STA, 27 June 2022 – The coronavirus pandemic and new legislation related to absenteeism have exacerbated a little-discussed issue that the Public Health Fund says requires urgent attention. With the constant increase in the share and amount of the costs of sick leave that he has to bear, ZZZS calls for a change, especially in the case of longer absences.

While there were mostly long queues at the heart of healthcare for treatment and the debate over how much privatization should be tolerated in the sector, the HIIS saw that the cost of absenteeism caused by it rose from € 225 million in 2013 to € 315. million in 2017, then to 442 million in 2020 and to 498 million in 2021.

Figures recorded by June indicate that ZZZS could exceed 700 million euros this year, which is partly due to pandemic restrictions, which continued this year, and legal changes introduced last year.

The changes have reduced the number of sick days covered by employers from the first 30 days to the first 20 days, which means that the HIIS will cover the costs earlier. In addition, the maximum number of sick days per year covered by employers has been reduced from 120 to 80 days. Anything beyond that is borne by the ZZZS.

A look at 2021 shows that employers covered a total of 807,278 sick leave in the amount of 5,745,668 days, while the HIIS covered the costs of 551,539 absences in the total amount of 8,438,690 days.

The share of lost working days due to illness in the total number of working days increased by 0.6 percentage points in 2021 to 5.1%, while the share covered by the HIIS increased from 2.6% to 3%.

While the average absence due to illness or injury in the last two years was about 11 days, the HIIS had to cover all the costs of compulsory isolation due to the epidemic.

The fund, meanwhile, notes that costs will continue to rise due to relatively high employment rates, later retirement, the absence of a ceiling on paid sick days and inconsistencies in procedures for determining temporary and permanent incapacity for work.

ZZZS believes that Slovenian legislation governing long-term sick leave is in contrast to those in modern European countries, “where sick leave is usually limited to one year”.

Emphasizing the permanent absences that began in 2009, he notes that the tendency to further extend the absence due to illness or injury, as opposed to the application for disability status, is also the result of higher compensation in the first case.

ZZZS says that the goal of future systemic measures should be to maintain the working capacity of policyholders. The key challenges are rapid reintegration into the work process, which can be achieved through effective vocational rehabilitation, job adaptation, earlier and more active involvement of employers and the occupational medicine profession.

The Fund sees the need to reorganize the right to sick leave compensation in a way comparable to other European countries, to make workers aware of their responsibility for their health and employers of the need for a safe and healthy work environment.

It calls for a reform of disability legislation to speed up procedures, adequate disability benefits, a shift from a focus on incapacity for work to finding and identifying remaining work capacity, and stepping up rehabilitation efforts.