Sick Note Codes in Russia: What the Numbers on the Certificate Mean

Sick notes in Russia are now electronic: there is no paper form in your hands, only a set of fields and a few numbers in an online account. The most common question about those numbers is «what does the code on my sick note mean, and is my diagnosis written there». The calm answer: there are two different families of codes, none of them is a diagnosis, and if you are looking at something like J06.9, you are reading a different document altogether.

What the Codes on a Sick Note Mean — Two Different Systems

The confusion comes from the word «code» covering several separate fields.

• Reason-for-incapacity code — a two-digit number (01–15) in its own field. It answers the question «why is this person off work»: illness, injury, quarantine, care, maternity.
• Additional code — a three-digit number (017–021) in the neighbouring cell. It is not always present and qualifies the circumstances.
• Kinship code — a two-digit number (38–42). Used only on a care certificate; it states your relationship to the person being cared for.
• Closing code — a two-digit number (31–37) recorded when the certificate is closed: still unwell, fit for work, referred for follow-up treatment.

None of these fields contains the name of an illness or an ICD-10 code. That point matters, and we return to it below.

Where the Codes Sit on the Certificate

Even in the electronic version the field structure is the same as on the old paper form:

The employer sees only the administrative part: number, period, reason code. The diagnosis and its code are not withheld from the employer — they are physically absent from the record.

Reason-for-Incapacity Codes: the Full Table

This is the reference table most people come for:

Note codes 14 and 15: they are recorded only with written consent, precisely because they hint at the nature of the illness. Without consent a general code is used instead: 09 when caring for a child, 01 for one's own illness.

Code 03, quarantine, most often appears for parents of pre-schoolers: after an outbreak in the group the child is excluded and the carer gets a certificate. Classic reasons are chickenpox, scarlet fever and intestinal infection.

Additional Codes and Kinship Codes

Two groups that are appended to the main code.

Additional (three-digit) codes:

A word on 021: it is not a punishment or a permanent mark, but it does affect how the employer calculates the benefit. It is used only when intoxication is documented as the cause of the condition.

Kinship codes (on care certificates):

A kinship code always accompanies reason code 09, 12 or 13. It says nothing about the patient's condition — only who took the leave.

Why No Diagnosis Appears on a Sick Note

This deserves a direct answer, because it is what worries people most.

A certificate of incapacity for work states no diagnosis in any form — no name, no ICD-10 code, no hint. Information about seeking medical help, about health status and about the diagnosis is medical confidentiality under Article 13 of Federal Law No. 323-FZ. The employer receives grounds for payment and the period of absence — but not the medical content.

Two practical consequences follow:

• An employer's demand to «bring a certificate stating the diagnosis» has nothing to do with the sick note: the diagnosis is not there and will not appear.
• Code 01 looks identical for a three-day cold and for a chronic flare-up. It cannot be reverse-engineered into an illness.

The codes that come closest to the nature of the condition are 14 and 15 — which is exactly why they are entered only with the person's written consent. Code 11 points no further than membership of a broad government list of socially significant diseases, from tuberculosis to diabetes, so no specific illness can be read out of it either.

If You See a Letter-and-Digit Code, That Is ICD-10

Here is the fork that brings most readers to this page. If the code in your document looks like a letter followed by digits — J06.9, I10, Z01.8, M42.1 — it is not a sick note code. It is the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, and it belongs to a different document: a certificate, an outpatient visit record, a discharge note, a test referral or an insurance claim.

Such a code is built as follows: the letter marks the class, two digits mark the category, and the digit after the point adds detail. For example:

A full map of all 22 ICD-10 classes with their ranges and plain-language explanations is collected in the overview of ICD-10 classes — a convenient starting point when all you know is the letter.

What to Do Next

A practical sequence when you hold a document with a code you do not understand:

1. Identify the document type. A two-digit number in the «reason for incapacity» field means a sick note. A letter with digits means a certificate, visit record, discharge note or referral.
2. For a sick note, use the table above. The reason code answers only «why is this person off work». It carries neither severity nor diagnosis.
3. For an ICD-10 code, find its class first. The letter immediately tells you which body system is involved; from there you can open the specific code.
4. Do not reconstruct a diagnosis from a reason code. Code 01 does not mean «something serious» and code 10 does not mean «something strange» — both wordings are deliberately broad.
5. Focus on what actually carries information — your test results. If a lab report remains after the illness, the meaning is in the values, deviations and their trend, not in the code. That is what to discuss at the follow-up appointment.
6. Ask whoever issued the document. A medical organisation is obliged to explain the code it entered — that information is not closed to the patient.

This page contains no benefit amounts, durations or payroll calculations: those belong to the employer and the social insurance fund, not to a medical reference.

The Short Version

A sick note carries several kinds of codes and none of them is a diagnosis: reason for incapacity (01–15), additional code (017–021), kinship code (38–42) and closing code (31–37). The diagnosis is kept off the certificate by law as medical confidentiality. A letter-and-digit code such as J06.9 or I10 is ICD-10 from a different document, and its meaning has to be looked up separately.