The mandatory 14-day quarantine for people returning from abroad was introduced together with the temporary closure of the borders. For the duration of the quarantine, people may apply for sickness pay from their employer or sickness benefit financed by social insurance.
“Initially, quarantine applied only to the person who had returned from abroad. Now people living with someone who has returned from abroad must also undergo it,” says Iwona Kowalska-Matis, regional press spokesperson for ZUS in Lower Silesia. “The person crossing the border must provide the State Sanitary Inspection with the details of household members, who are automatically also placed under quarantine,” she explains.
The change follows the Council of Ministers’ regulation of 31 March 2020 on establishing certain restrictions, orders and prohibitions in connection with the outbreak of the epidemic. Under these regulations, household members of a person returning from abroad after 31 March who undergo mandatory quarantine are also entitled to sickness benefits. This is sickness pay from the employer or sickness benefit financed by the sickness fund.
The spokesperson explains that the basis for paying the benefit in this situation is a declaration confirming that the person underwent mandatory quarantine after crossing the border or underwent it together with a person returning from abroad. The declaration must be submitted within three working days of the end of the quarantine.
“It is important to be aware that only people covered by sickness insurance are entitled to benefits during quarantine. Contractors and business owners will receive money if they pay sickness-insurance contributions, which are voluntary in their case,” the spokesperson cautions.
The declaration form is available on www.zus.pl. Employees submit the declaration to their employer, while people employed under a contract of mandate submit it to the contracting party. People running a business should submit the declaration to ZUS—they can do so online via the ZUS Electronic Services Platform. The institution’s website contains instructions on how to do this.
Employers that pay the benefits, as well as ZUS, may verify the information contained in the declaration with the sanitary authorities. If the state sanitary inspector decides to shorten a person’s quarantine or release them from it, that person should inform the entity paying their sickness benefit—the employer, contracting party or ZUS.
ZUS reminds people that anyone receiving sickness or care benefit during quarantine or isolation may not work at the same time. An exception applies to medical professionals who, during quarantine or home isolation, perform remote work for an entity conducting medical activities or provide health services through telemedicine. The exception also applies to those receiving an additional care benefit because of the closure of an institution and working as part of a medical duty during hours other than the time off work taken to care for a child.
The amendment that entered into force on 1 April 2020 allows these people to work remotely within the specified scope without losing their entitlement to sickness benefits, or to work outside normal working hours without losing their entitlement to care benefit.