Filenews 29 December 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
The ministry of labour - and specifically the Social Insurance Services - is also very concerned by the surge in coronavirus cases, since it is expected to translate into hundreds of applications for sickness benefit.
As is well known, both cases and their close contacts are, under certain conditions, entitled, if they obtain sick leave from their personal doctor or leave of absence from the Ministry of Health, to apply to the Social Insurance Services for sickness benefit and benefit.
The problem in recent times has not been so pressing, not only because of the lower number of cases but also because those who had been ill from May onwards or those who were close contacts, could until recently submit the relevant application electronically, through the special website operated by the Ministry of Labour for the special support plans to deal with the effects of the pandemic.
Thus, the special sick pay, for those employees of the private sector and for self-employed persons who had contracted the COVID 19 virus or had to remain in mandatory confinement, was paid without delay. The electronic submission of applications, however, was terminated, along with the end of the special support schemes at the end of October.
As a result, now coronavirus cases and close contacts that are required to self-isolation, will have to fill in the relevant application form for the purposes of providing sickness benefits and submit it to the Ministry of Labour or the Citizens' Service Center ( KEP). This means that the delay in the examination of the relevant applications and the payment of the relevant allowances will come back.
It is worth noting that, according to the latest update of the YKA, the applications received until 21/09/2021 for sick pay are currently being examined.
However, the explosion of cases on Monday, as mentioned, alerted the YKA, as they are concerned that we are informed that the very large number of applications for sickness benefit due to the pandemic, which is expected, will delay the process of examining applications for sick pay in general.
At the same time, information tells us that the YKA is close to restoring the possibility of electronic submission of applications in the context of the general efforts made for modernization and computerization, in order to electronically submit applications for a series of benefits of the CTA, including sick pay. As we wrote again, sick leave for covid-19 is no different from other sick leave, in terms of the amount of benefit paid, which depends on the contributions of each insured person.
