A few thoughts on sickness allowance for PH.D. students receiving a doctoral scholarship

Abstract

The article discusses the possibility of combining a doctoral scholarship with sickness benefit. The legislator, by allowing PhD students to voluntarily take part in sickness insurance, has also granted them the right to benefits from this insurance. However, this right can be completely illu-sory in practice. PhD students retain the right to a doctoral scholarship, which is obligatory for all doctoral students, also during the period of inability to work caused by illness. If this scholarship is qualified as a remuneration obtained under “scientific employment”, the provisions of the Benefit Act would exclude the possibility of obtaining sickness benefit. Joining sickness insurance would be pointless in this situation. If we do not recognise the doctoral scholarship for a sui generis type of remuneration, it would allow PhD students to receive simultaneously both sickness allowance and a scholarship. It would be incompatible with the purpose and function of sickness allowance and also incompatible with the system assumptions of the Polish social insurance system.