Workers in debt to social insurance 'pay as much as they receive'

More than 206,400 people whose social insurance benefits were suspended because their company went bankrupt or their owner fled will have their benefits settled based on the actual payment time, not the time of debt.

Reporting before the questioning session at the 5th session of the 15th National Assembly , Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that based on the Prime Minister's direction, this agency has issued a document guiding the Vietnam Social Security to resolve benefits for workers with unpaid contributions with the principle of "recording as much as is collected".

Specifically, those who are eligible will be settled for retirement and social insurance (SI) benefits at one time. In case they are not eligible, they will be required to confirm the payment period so that the employee can continue to participate at the new unit. These employees used to work at 26,670 enterprises that went bankrupt, stopped operating, and the owners fled.

Mr. Duong Van Hao, Head of the Collection Management Department - Book and information card on resolving the regime for more than 206,400 employees with social insurance debts at the press conference on June 5. Photo: Hong Chieu — Mr. Duong Van Hao, Head of the Collection Management Department - Book and information card on resolving the regime for more than 206,400 employees with social insurance debts at the press conference on June 5. Photo: *Hong Chieu*

Updating the progress of the regime settlement at the press conference on June 5, Mr. Duong Van Hao, Head of the Collection - Book and Card Management Department of Vietnam Social Security, said that after classification, there are about 125,000 workers who have not yet received the regime. These people have transferred to new units, continued to participate in social insurance but have not been recorded for the time of debt payment at the old company. The remaining people have been resolved for retirement, death, one-time social insurance or have reserved the payment time in the system.

According to Mr. Hao, employees who are old enough to retire and have 20 years of actual social insurance contributions will receive pensions at the time of eligibility. If the company later compensates for the social insurance debt or supplements it with other sources, the employee will have this time added to recalculate the pension level.

The settlement of the remaining regimes such as one-time social insurance, sickness, maternity, and death benefits is implemented according to the principle of recording the amount paid, without adding the time of social insurance debt. If there is a financial source to compensate for the time of debt, the Social Insurance agency will adjust the benefit level. There are two proposed sources of payment: from the Social Insurance Fund or the budget, but both are not feasible.

"This is a temporary measure. If it is not implemented soon, labor rights will remain in limbo and it is unknown when they will be resolved," he said.

The Head of the Tax Collection and Book Management Department said that the total current debt is from 1995 to the present, all recorded in the management system, with full information on the debtor enterprise and employees. When the enterprise is late in paying, the Social Insurance agency "fulfilled all responsibilities" within its authority, from urging payment, sending official notices, publicizing in the media, inspecting and even filing lawsuits.

According to General Director of Vietnam Social Security Nguyen The Manh, the reduction of the debt ratio from nearly 6% of total receivables in 2016 to 2.69% last year was an effort of the industry. The Social Security Agency cannot regularly visit businesses to inspect and must "collect debts" in many forms such as email. Many businesses that owe social insurance for more than a month are still operating, so employees who reach retirement age and meet the conditions are still entitled to normal benefits.

May 19 Textile workers in Ha Nam come to the company's headquarters in Hanoi to demand salary and insurance before Lunar New Year, January 2023. Photo: Minh Anh — May 19 Textile workers in Ha Nam come to the company's headquarters in Hanoi to demand salary and insurance before Lunar New Year, January 2023. Photo: *Minh Anh*

In February, when the Vietnam Social Security proposed to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs a plan to handle benefits for 206,400 people who owed social insurance, experts and union representatives said that the above direction would push all the difficulties onto the workers. Because every month, their salaries are deducted by the company to pay social insurance; their sickness and maternity benefits are "suspended" when the company owes money and now the time of debt is not counted, which is a disadvantage. If it is fair, all benefits for workers must be resolved from the moment they arise. The source of funding can be taken from the profitable investments of the Social Security Fund.

According to statistics from the Vietnam Social Security, by the end of 2022, there were more than 2.13 million employees nationwide whose businesses had delayed paying social insurance from one to less than three months; 440,800 people owed payments for three months or more and nearly 213,400 people had their books "suspended" at dissolved or inactive businesses, with difficult-to-recover social insurance debts. The number of people who are owed social insurance accounts for 17.4% of the total number of employees participating in compulsory social insurance.

Late payment occurs in all types of enterprises with interest amounting to more than 13,150 billion VND. Compared to 2021, late payment interest increased by more than 660 billion VND. Particularly, the debt that is difficult to recover at bankrupt, dissolved, inactive enterprises, and absconding owners is more than 4,000 billion VND.

Hong Chieu

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