Published: 22.01.2021.
Price
Free
Execution deadline in working days
10
Learn more
Recipient
Individual person
Receiving restrictions
-

Get a service

On-site
E-Service
Others

Sickness benefit is paid to an employee or self employed person for the time when the person cannot work and loses  income due to illness.

If the insured person himself/herself is ill, then the sickness benefit is paid from the 10th day of illness.

If the cause of the illness is an accident at work, then the sickness benefit is paid from the 11th day of illness.

If the cause of the illness is an occupational disease, then the sickness benefit is paid to the employee from the first day of illness.

There are limits on the period for which the sickness benefit is paid.

If the illness is continuous, the benefit shall be paid for a maximum period of 26 weeks from the first day of illness. The period may be extended on the basis of an opinion of the State medical Commission for Health and Working ability Expert-examination. The sickness benefit shall then be paid for a maximum period of 52 weeks from the first day of the illness.

If, on the other hand, he is suffering with interruptions, the benefit shall be paid for a maximum period of 52 weeks over a three-year period.

Personal income tax shall be deducted from the calculated amount of the benefit when disbursing the sickness benefit- it is 25.5% in 2025.

The State Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) shall apply the payer's non-taxable minimum to the sickness benefit to be paid. Personal income tax relief for dependants or additional relief for persons with disabilities, politically repressed persons and a Member of the national resistance movement, if entitled, shall also apply.

From May 1, 2025 for working pension beneficiaries, to whom the pensioner's non-taxable minimum is applied separately – EUR 500 for the salary, EUR 500 for the pension, because the payroll tax book has been submitted to the employer – the part of the non-taxable minimum applied to the salary shall also be applied to the sickness benefit by the SSIA.

The non-taxable minimum and income tax relief shall not apply to persons to whom a service pension has been granted.

To request the service, you must fill in for a particular form submission addressed to the SSIA.

The amount of the sickness benefit can be predicted using the SSIA sickness benefit prognosis.

  • Process description
  • Related documents
  • More about the service

Process description

  1. Service requests
    The allowance must be claimed within 6 months from the first day of temporary incapacity.

    In order to claim the benefit, a specific form of application addressed to the SAA must be completed.
    May submit a submission:
    • on the www.latvija.lv portal;
    • on-site (if requested for service, a personal identification document (passport or ID card) must be produced);
    • electronically (the application must be signed with a secure electronic signature containing the time stamp);
    • by post;
    • through the competent foreign authority.
    An application may be submitted in person to any VSAA customer service centre or to the unified customer service centres of the State and local governments.

    The submission shall indicate the preferred method of receiving the decision.

    The e-supply to the www.latvija.lv portal may only be submitted if the sick-leave page B is registered in the electronically integrated electronic information system of the health sector.

    If the allowance is requested due to an occupational disease shall be subject to presentation of an opinion on the occupational disease diagnosed.

  2. Receipt of services

    If the official electronic address account (hereinafter the e-address) is activated, the decision will be sent by the SSIA to the e-address regardless of how the application is submitted.

    If the e-address is not enabled and:

    • completed for e-submission on portal Latvija.gov.lv, the decision will be available for viewing on portal Latvija.gov.lv in the “SSIA information and services” e-service under the “logged-in services” section;

    • the application has been submitted to the SSIA in person, electronically (signed with a secure electronic signature) or sent by post - the decision may be received according to the type of receipt of the decision indicated in the application: on the portal, Latvija.gov.lv, face-to-face, or by post

    At the choice of the recipient, the SSIA shall transfer the service to the account of the Latvian credit institution or postal payment system.

Sickness benefit may be granted to an employee or a self-employed person who, due to incapacity for work, loses income from employment or economic activity and has been issued a B-type certificate of incapacity for work by a medical practitioner:

  • due to loss of working capacity caused by illness or injury;
  • due to the need to receive medical or preventive treatment;
  • in cases requiring isolation due to quarantine;
  • during the recovery period after illness or injury requiring inpatient treatment;
  • if prosthetics or orthotics are required in an inpatient setting.

Please note:

If sickness benefit has been granted, it may only be received during a period in which the person does not earn income, including royalties.

The only exception applies to self-employed persons who:

  • have registered their economic activity with the State Revenue Service,
  • do not earn income reaching the minimum wage in a given month, and
  • make social insurance contributions themselves under the general procedure.

The right to receive sickness benefit arises for persons for whom mandatory contributions for sickness insurance have been made or had to be made:

  • for not less than three months within the last six-month period prior to the month in which the insured event (first day of incapacity for work) occurred, or
  • for not less than six months within the last twenty-four months.

Sickness benefit may be granted to an employee who, due to incapacity for work, loses income from employment and has been issued a B-type certificate of incapacity for work by a medical practitioner:

  • due to an occupational accident (confirmed by an official report registered by the State Labour Inspectorate),
  • due to an occupational disease (confirmed by a decision of the Occupational and Radiation Medicine Centre of the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital).

 

When sickness benefit is granted with the cause of temporary incapacity classified as “occupational accident” or “occupational disease”, no qualification period is required.

 

 

 

Translation prepared with a machine translation tool

When determining the amount of sickness benefit, the claimant’s calculated average insurance contribution wage shall be taken into account.

The average insurance contribution wage per calendar day shall be calculated as follows:

  • for an employee, based on the twelve-month period ending two months prior to the month in which the temporary incapacity for work (the first day of incapacity) occurred.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

-

-

The month in which the temporary incapacity for work occurred
  • for a self-employed person, the average insurance contribution wage is calculated based on the actual contributions made during the last twelve-month period ending one quarter (three months) before the quarter in which the temporary incapacity for work occurred.

The average daily insurance contribution wage is calculated using the following formula:

Vd = (A₁ + A₂ + ... + A₁₂) / D

Where:

  • Vd – average daily insurance contribution wage,
  • A₁, A₂, ..., A₁₂ – sum of insurance contribution wages for each of the twelve months,
  • D – number of calendar days in the twelve-month calculation period.

If during part of the twelve-month period the person was on:

  • parental leave,
  • unpaid leave granted for child care,
  • paternity leave,
  • maternity leave, or
  • temporary incapacity for work,
    then the days of such leave shall be excluded from the total number of calendar days (D) in the calculation.

If the person received no income during the entire twelve-month period due to the above reasons, the average wage shall be calculated based on the income received during the previous twelve calendar months prior to such periods, i.e. before the leave or incapacity period, from employment or self-employment subject to mandatory contributions.

If in any months within the twelve-month period no income was earned because the person:

  • did not have the status of an employee,
  • was not making mandatory contributions as a self-employed person, or
  • was on unpaid leave unrelated to child care,

then the average wage for that period shall be set at 40% of the national average insurance contribution wage.

The following shall not be included in the insurance contribution wage total:

  • bonuses, premiums, allowances, or other types of compensation paid by the employer during periods of temporary incapacity, maternity/parental leave, or unpaid child care leave.

Additionally, when calculating the average insurance contribution wage for the purpose of determining benefit amount, the following shall not be included:

  • severance pay and
  • compensation for unused annual leave.

The sickness benefit is granted in the amount of 80% of the claimant’s average insurance contribution wage.

 

 

 

Translation prepared with a machine translation tool

For the first nine calendar days of temporary incapacity, the physician issues a sick-leave certificate A, and the employer pays the sickness allowance for this period:

  • for the second and third day of sickness – not less than 75% of the employee's average earnings;
  • from the fourth to the ninth day – not less than 80% of the average earnings.

If recovery is not achieved, starting from the tenth day of incapacity, the physician issues a sick-leave certificate B. The State Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) grants and pays the sickness benefit for this period.

If the cause of the temporary incapacity is a workplace accident, the physician issues a sick-leave certificate A, and for the first ten days of incapacity, the employer pays not less than 80% of the employee's average earnings.

If recovery is not achieved, from the eleventh day onwards, the physician issues a sick-leave certificate B, and the SSIA grants and pays the sickness benefit.

If the cause of the temporary incapacity is an occupational disease, the physician issues a sick-leave certificate B from the first day of incapacity.

Note: There are statutory limits on the maximum period for which sickness benefit may be paid.

If the illness is continuous, the sickness benefit is granted for no longer than 26 weeks, counted from the first day of incapacity for work. Based on a conclusion from the State Medical Commission for the Assessment of Health Condition and Working Ability, this period may be extended, but not exceeding 52 weeks from the first day of incapacity.

If the illness occurs with interruptions, the sickness benefit is paid for no longer than 52 weeks within a three-year period. In determining this 52-week period, all periods of incapacity for work are summed up starting from the first day of illness (the first day indicated on the sick-leave certificate A) for which sickness benefit was granted, excluding:

  • periods of incapacity due to caring for a sick child,
  • tuberculosis,
  • maternity leave periods (for which maternity benefits were granted).

If incapacity for work is caused by tuberculosis, the sickness benefit is granted and paid from the 10th day of incapacity until the person recovers or is assigned a disability status. In such cases, the benefit may be paid beyond the 26- or 52-week limit, without requiring a decision by the Medical Commission, but not beyond the date the doctor closes the sick-leave certificate or disability is confirmed.

If, during the illness, employment is terminated or self-employed status is lost, but the sick-leave continues, the sickness benefit is paid for an additional 30 calendar days, starting from the day employment was terminated or the self-employment status was lost. Beyond this period, the benefit is not granted, even if the incapacity continues.

This condition does not apply in cases where the incapacity is due to a workplace accident or occupational disease.

The sickness benefit for a specific incapacity period is calculated and paid as follows:

  • The daily amount of the benefit is multiplied by the number of days indicated on the sick-leave certificate B.
  • Personal income tax is deducted from the total calculated amount.
  • The certificate B is paid for calendar days, including weekends and public holidays.

The benefit is transferred to the recipient's account in a Latvian credit institution or Postal Settlement System (PSS).

If the benefit is granted under a bilateral international agreement on social security or under EU regulations, and the recipient resides in an EU/EEA member state or a contracting country, the benefit may be transferred to a foreign credit institution account.

If a person is eligible to receive both sickness and unemployment benefit simultaneously, only the sickness benefit is paid during that period.

 

 

 

Translation prepared with a machine translation tool

Get a service

On-site
E-Service
Others