State-run Social Security System (SSS) said more employers are now using the pension fund’s online facility to submit sickness benefit reimbursement applications (SBRA).
Aurora C. Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer said on Friday, June 11, that they have approved 186,444 SBRAs submitted by 22,237 employers online through My.SSS from July last year to April 2021.
Ignacio said the approved SBRAs during the period amounted to over P1.35 billion.
“We are glad that more employers are now using the My.SSS accounts to submit SBRAs, giving them comfort and security to transact with SSS even beyond office hours,” Ignacio said in a statement.
“It is a step ahead of the previous practice when they still have to wait for a hard copy of the approved sickness notification (SN) before physically submitting the SBRA documents to SSS branches,” she added.
The mandatory online submission of SBRA—which started on July 1, 2020—was imposed to reduce the processing time of sickness reimbursement claims and to eliminate the transmission of hard copies of claims from SSS branches to processing centers.
“Automating processes and providing online services to our members and employers are part of our ExpreSSS digitalization campaign as we work towards a simpler, faster and more convenient transaction process,” Ignacio said.
To submit the SBRA online, employers must be registered with the My.SSS portal and have an approved disbursement account under the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module (DAEM).
There is no need for the employers to submit the hard copies of the SBRA and approved SN when filing online, although they need to certify the amount of sickness benefit advanced to the employee.
“However, we would like to remind our employers that sickness benefit claims for adjustment and/or refiling must be made thru the drop box system at SSS branches since the online facility only accepts new and initial claims with approved sickness notifications,” Ignacio said.
“Employers and company representatives are also advised to initially set an appointment with our SSS branches to avoid congestion in the branch offices,” she concluded.