Social Security (INSS) classifies it as follows:
A benefit granted to the insured person who is unable to work due to illness or accident for more than 15 consecutive days. For employees with a formal employment contract, the first 15 days are paid by the employer, except for domestic workers, and Social Security pays from the 16th day of absence from work. For other insured persons, including domestic workers, Social Security pays the benefit from the beginning of the incapacity and for as long as it lasts. In both cases, the benefit must have been requested. Click here for more information about payment.
To be granted the sickness benefit, it is necessary to prove the incapacity through an examination performed by the Social Security medical board.
To be entitled to the benefit, the worker must have contributed to Social Security for at least 12 months (grace period). This period is not required in the event of an accident of any nature (work-related or non-work-related) or an occupational disease.
Workers affected by active tuberculosis, leprosy, mental alienation, malignant neoplasm, blindness, irreversible and incapacitating paralysis, severe heart disease, Parkinson's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, severe nephropathy, advanced-stage Paget's disease (osteitis deformans), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), radiation contamination (proven by medical report), or severe hepatopathy are entitled to the benefit without the need to meet the minimum contribution period, provided they have insured status at the start of the incapacity.
Those who, upon joining Social Security, already have an illness or injury that would generate the benefit are not entitled to the sickness benefit, unless the incapacity results from the worsening of the condition.
Workers receiving the sickness benefit are required to undergo periodic medical examinations, and if it is determined that they cannot return to their usual activity, they must participate in a professional rehabilitation program for the exercise of another activity, prescribed and funded by Social Security, under penalty of having the benefit suspended.
When a worker loses their insured status, previous contributions will only be considered for the granting of the sickness benefit if, after re-joining Social Security, there are at least four contributions that, added to the previous ones, total at least the required grace period (12 months).
The sickness benefit ceases to be paid when the insured person recovers their capacity and returns to work or when the benefit is converted into a disability pension.
The company may request the sickness benefit for its employee or individual contributor who provides services to it, and in this case, it will have access to decisions regarding the benefit.
Note: Social Security will process the benefit ex officio when it becomes aware, through documents proving the situation, that the insured person is incapacitated for work and unable to communicate with the INSS. In this case, a medical-expert examination by the INSS is mandatory to prove the alleged incapacity.
Source: http://www.previdencia.gov.br/conteudoDinamico.php?id=21
