Workers have not received their social insurance payments for nearly 7 years.

In Da Nang , TBO Vina Co., Ltd. owes social insurance contributions for nearly 7 years to 474 workers, while the South Korean owner has absconded.

TBO Vina Co., Ltd. (Lien Chieu district), established in 2014 with 100% South Korean investment, operates in the garment export industry. From November 2016 to July 2018, despite not paying social insurance contributions, the company deducted more than 10% of the monthly salaries of nearly 474 workers.

In July 2018, Mr. Kim Sang Bong, the company director, announced he was taking leave until the end of the month. After that time, he did not show up at work. The police said he left the country but did not return.

Workers were worried, working half-heartedly, and even staging collective work stoppages when they learned their boss had fled. At the end of that year, the company went bankrupt but failed to pay nearly two months' worth of wages and outstanding social insurance contributions.

Authorities investigated and determined that the company owed workers over 14 billion VND in unpaid wages and social insurance contributions. 196 workers who filed complaints were represented by the City Labor Union in a lawsuit against the company.

In November 2019, the Lien Chieu District People's Court ruled that TBO Vina Co., Ltd. must pay nearly two months' worth of wages, plus outstanding allowances, to its workers; and transfer the outstanding social insurance contributions.

All of the company's assets were seized and confiscated by the Lien Chieu District People's Procuracy and subsequently auctioned off. Upon learning of this, in February 2022, many former employees of the company went to the Lien Chieu District Civil Enforcement Agency to request their wages and social insurance benefits, but were not paid.

Ms. Huynh Thi Binh, a former employee of TBO Vina Company, stated that 196 people involved in the lawsuit had their wages settled afterward. Nearly 300 people who "did not participate in the lawsuit did not receive their wages" because the proceeds from the sale of the company's assets were insufficient to cover the outstanding social insurance contributions.

"Before going bankrupt in 2018, the company owed social insurance contributions for its employees for nearly two years. It's been seven years now, and we still haven't received our social insurance benefits," Ms. Binh said, adding that many workers also haven't received their maternity leave benefits.

Many former workers of TBO Vina Company gathered in front of the city's administrative center to submit a petition requesting payment of outstanding social insurance contributions, March 2023. Photo: Hong Chi

Attending a meeting with constituents organized by the Delegation of the National Assembly , the People's Council, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, and the Labor Union of Da Nang City on the afternoon of May 12th, Ms. Binh proposed that the National Assembly and the Government consider allowing workers to receive benefits, policies, and other rights when business owners abscond, or when businesses go bankrupt or are dissolved.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, stated that the assets of TBO Vina after liquidation only amounted to approximately 1.5 billion VND, insufficient to guarantee the rights of the workers. The Department has advised the City People's Committee to provide nearly 500 million VND to cover the workers' benefits. Subsequently, only if the Department of Planning and Investment issues a document confirming that the company currently lacks a legal representative will the city's Social Insurance agency have a basis to pay the workers their lump-sum social insurance benefits.

"Ultimately, the workers are the ones who suffer the most from this incident, both in terms of social insurance benefits and wages," Mr. Nam said, expressing his hope that city leaders would continue to pay attention to the nearly 500 former employees of the company.

Nguyen Dong

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