With February 2020 the use of electronic sick leave notes will be mandatory, which represents a significant innovation for employers and their employees. As of 1 February 2020 the employees will thus no longer be required to submit sick leave notes in paper form, as employers will be obligated to accept electronic sick leave notes.
On 1 January 2020 the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (hereinafter »HIIS«), in cooperation with health care providers, introduced the electronic issuing of sick leave notes. Until 31 January 2020 health care providers will be able to issue sick leave notes to insured persons (employees) also in paper form, while as of 1 February 2020, paper sick leave notes will only be available in certain exceptional cases. Namely, employers will be required to accept electronic sick leave notes for their employees through the SPOT system, administered by the Ministry of Public Administration, for all temporary absence from work as of 1 February 2020, and will no longer be able to require employees to provide them with sick leave notes in paper form. The exception applies only to those insured persons, employed by employers that are not registered in the Slovenian Business Register; their physicians will continue to issue them sick leave notes in paper form. The issued electronic sick leave notes can also be accessed by the insured persons (employees), namely on the HIIS’s web portal, with a qualified digital certificate.
Due to the mandatory use of electronic sick leave notes, business entities – employers need to duly arrange new authorizations and grant authority to the person, who will be able to access their employees’ sick leave notes through the SPOT system.
