SSS extends deadlines for filing of sickness benefit claims


The Social Security System (SSS) has extended the filing of Sickness Notifications (SN), Sickness Benefit Application (SBA), and Sickness Benefit Reimbursement Application (SBRA) until all types of community quarantine have been lifted in the country.

(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio said the agency implemented the extension since May 2020 to help members and covered employers avoid reductions in their sickness benefits or have rejected claims.

"We understand the current situation that our stakeholders are facing. This is the reason why we provided these more flexible guidelines in their favor," Ignacio said in a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 18.

Under normal circumstances, employee members must submit their SN to their employees within five days, employers must submit these forms to the SSS within five calendar days after its receipt from their employees.

Meanwhile, self-employed and voluntary members must submit their SBA forms to the SSS within five days after the start of confinement.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are given 35 days to do so after the start of confinement.

With the extension of the period for filing, employee members are given 60 days after the lifting of community quarantine to submit their SN forms for home confinement to their employers.

Employers are also given 60 days after the receipt of the said forms to submit them to the SSS, however, if the country is still on community quarantine on the last day of submission, the employer may still submit the said form within 60 days after the lifting of the community quarantine.

Likewise, self-employed, voluntary, and OFW members are given 60 days to submit their SBA forms for home confinement to the SSS after the lifting of the community quarantine.

SB claims for home and hospital confinement of self-employed, voluntary, OFW members, and employed members for employer reimbursement claims will not be reduced or denied if the deadline of the filing period falls on March 1, 2020, until the end of the community quarantine.