Table of Contents:
1. Does the insured person always lose the right to benefits?
According to Article 17(1) of the Act of June 25, 1999, on Cash Benefits from Social Insurance in the Event of Illness and Maternity, an insured person performing paid work during a period of certified incapacity to work or using the sick leave contrary to its intended purpose forfeits the right to sickness benefit for the entire period of the leave. Social insurance benefits are intended to allow the insured to recover, as their inability to work is a prerequisite for receiving such benefits.
Does the insured person always lose the right to benefits?
Not all activities performed during sick leave are considered paid work. Furthermore, even if such work is performed, courts do not always rule that the benefit should be forfeited. The District Court in Łomża recently highlighted the purpose of Article 17 of the Act on Cash Benefits from Social Insurance in the Event of Illness and Maternity.
In a case reviewed by the court, an insured person performed a certain activity related to work duties while on sick leave. This activity involved logging into a system and clicking an appropriate button in the insurer’s application. According to the court, this task took only a few minutes. The insured person could not delegate this activity to a third party without the consent of the client.
The District Court held that performing such a task should not result in the loss of the insured person’s entitlement to sickness benefits. The court emphasized that “the purpose of the Act is not to blindly penalize insured individuals for the slightest sign of any professional activity that has no impact on the purpose and course of the granted sick leave. Since ancient times, the principle Summum ius, summa iniuria (‘The strictest law is the greatest injustice’) has been recognized.”
The court stated that depriving the insured person of sickness benefits for a lengthy period of sick leave due to an incidental act, such as clicking a single button in a computer application, undermines the individual’s trust in the state, renders the principle of social security enshrined in the Constitution illusory, and is patently unjust.
District Court in Łomża, September 24, 2024, Case No. IV U 115/24
