The city pays a benefit of €30 to compensate the citizens for their first day of sick leave.

Applications for the compensation can be submitted in the city's e-service after the sick leave certificate has been completed and the payment has been made by the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF). Benefit for the first day of illness can be claimed retroactively on the basis of a sick leave certificate issued from March 25.

Deputy Mayor Betina Beškina said the city of Tallinn pays its residents the benefit in order to encourage people to take a sick leave as early as possible when the primary symptoms of illness occur.

"In this way, we can slow down the spread of the virus and at the same time ensure the citizens' confidence in their daily coping," Beškina said. "According to the initial plan, we will pay support to the people of Tallinn for the first day of sick leave until the end of April, but if necessary, we are ready to extend the measure."

In order to receive the benefit, the person must be registered as a resident of Tallinn. The application can be submitted in the city's e-service after the certificate of the sick leave has been ended by the EHIF and the sick pay has been paid out. An application cannot be submitted on the basis of an open or pending sick leave. The system validates the data of the applicant's place of residence with the population register and the data of the sick leave with the EHIF information system, and then the city makes a payment to the beneficiary.

The e-service can be accessed via the state authentication methods: ID-card, mobile-ID, Smart-ID and EU eID.

In view of the high risk of infection, the use of e-services is requested, but if this is not possible, the application can also be submitted by e-mail to the social welfare department of the government of the district of residence or in the service hall of the district government. The application submitted by e-mail must be digitally signed.

The EHIF said an average of 25,000 sick leave certificates are issued in Tallinn every month. The support measure for the first day of illness for all employees registered in Tallinn is estimated to cost €750,000.

While Tallinn will pay its citizens from the first day of sick leave, payment of sick leave only starts on day two for the rest of the country. The government did not agree to extend payments to day one, as Tallinn suggested, last month.

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