As of January 2004, rather than social security provider Socialna Poistovna, employers will pay short-term sick leave allowances to their employees. This shift will be accompanied by a corresponding reduction of the levy burden, compensating employers for new expenses, Labor Ministry state secretary Michal Horvath told SITA. The upper limit on short-term sick leave will be from ten to twenty days, the exact duration is being discussed,“ he specified.

Changes in sick leave insurance should prevent abuses of the system. We assume that such a measure will create better conditions to monitor whether receiving sick leave benefits is justified,“ suggested the state secretary. Employers will lose their motivation to settle their business problems by sending people on sick leave, which is sometimes currently the case.

„Currently we are analyzing ways to eliminate risks which could harm the financial situation of employers with only a few people in their workforce, in the case of an epidemic, for example, noted Mr. Horvath. Access to a commercial insurance products could be one of the options that should be enabled by health insurance reform.

The Labor Ministry already proposed to transfer the responsibility to pay sick leave allowance on short-term sick leave under Minister Peter Magvasi. Due to an objection by the Economy Ministry, the proposed changes were not implemented into social insurance law at that time.