ZUS: Staying at home with your child until May 3

People employed under an employment contract or a contract of mandate apply for the allowance directly to their employer. Only people who run a sole proprietorship submit their application to ZUS. The owner of a small business sends (submits) the application directly to ZUS—both for themselves, if it is a sole proprietorship, and for their employees, if they employ any.

— Errors in applications or a missing attachment prevent us not only from making the payment but also from processing the application. We have to ask the employer to supplement it, the employee waits for the transfer from ZUS, and meanwhile we correspond with their employer—says Iwona Kowalska-Matis, regional press spokesperson for ZUS in Lower Silesia. — Therefore, I appeal for completed documents to be checked for correctness and for the employer to attach Z-3 or Z-3a certificates to the employee’s declaration.

What documents are needed?

An employee or contractor submits a declaration stating that they wish to take care of their child directly to their contribution payer, such as their employer or contracting party. I. Kowalska-Matis:

An employee employed by a small company (up to 20 people) may also submit an application directly to ZUS, but this significantly lengthens the procedure, because we then ask the employer to send us form Z-3 if the person is employed under an employment contract, or Z-3a if it is a contract of mandate. If the application is submitted directly to the employer, the employer sends the appropriate form to ZUS immediately after attaching it to the allowance application. Faster, simpler, fewer procedures and less work for us, the employee and the employer.

People conducting non-agricultural business activities and people cooperating with them submit the declaration to ZUS. Form Z-15A or the contribution payer’s Z-3b certificate is not required.

More information, a declaration template and completion instructions can be found at https://www.zus.pl/o-zus/aktualnosci/-/publisher/aktualnosc/1/zmiany-w-dodatkowym-zasilku-opiekunczym/2551095.

When is the allowance paid to parents?

It depends on who pays the allowance. If the employee’s employer transfers the money, the payment is certainly faster than in the case of self-employed people who submit such an application directly to ZUS.

— Payment from ZUS does not happen automatically when an application reaches us—we check whether the applicant is covered by sickness insurance, because the payment comes from this fund. This means checking whether they have paid the contribution for March or submitted an application for exemption from contributions or for payment deferral. Unfortunately, this takes time. I should add that by law the application is ALWAYS processed only after the period for which the allowance was requested has elapsed; this was also the case previously, as nothing has changed here. Unfortunately, a problem arises when neither a contribution nor either of the applications—for deferral or exemption from payment—has reached ZUS. I would remind you that although the entrepreneur has until the end of June to do this, in this situation it is better to act as quickly as possible—explains I. Kowalska-Matis.

Parents can still care for their child under the care allowance until April 26, 2020. Additional funds are available not only to parents whose child attended a nursery, children’s club, kindergarten or school, but also to parents whose child was cared for by a daytime caregiver or a “nanny” with whom the parents had concluded an activation contract.

Important: For self-employed people, eligibility for the allowance depends on whether they pay the sickness contribution for themselves. The health insurance contribution is mandatory, while sickness insurance is voluntary.

The care allowance is available to people covered by sickness insurance, both compulsorily and—as in the case of running a business—when they voluntarily pay the so-called sickness contribution for themselves.

It is available equally to the child’s mother or father and is paid to the parent who applies for it. The allowance is paid like sickness benefit, at 80 percent of remuneration. It may be claimed when there are no other family members who can provide care for the child.

ZUS:

The additional care allowance due to the closure of a nursery, children’s club, kindergarten or school in connection with COVID-19 has also been available since March 26 this year to insured parents of children up to 16 years old who have a disability certificate, children up to 18 years old who have a certificate of severe or moderate disability, and children who have a certificate confirming the need for special education. The declaration can be submitted at any time, but it must be submitted because without it ZUS or the contribution payer will not pay the allowance.

It should be remembered that the rules for receiving the additional care allowance have not changed. The allowance in the additional period is available jointly to both parents, regardless of the number of children requiring care. This allowance is not available if the child’s other parent can provide care, for example, is unemployed or is taking parental or childcare leave.

The additional allowance is not included in the 60-day annual limit for care allowance granted under the so-called general rules.

The declaration for the additional care allowance can most easily be submitted to ZUS online via the Electronic Services Platform (PUE) ZUS. Both the declaration and instructions on how to submit it through the PUE ZUS portal are available here: https://www.zus.pl/o-zus/aktualnosci/-/publisher/aktualnosc/1/zmiany-w-dodatkowym-zasilku-opiekunczym/2551095.