Ho Chi Minh City: Dialogue with businesses on social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance policies

Scene of the dialogue conference. *Photo: H.Pham*

On November 14, the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) coordinated with the city's Social Insurance (SI) to organize a dialogue conference between businesses and the city government, with the topic of social insurance, health insurance (HI), and unemployment insurance (UI) policies.

At the conference, many businesses were concerned about the issue of social insurance participation for part-time and low-income workers. Some businesses reported the inconvenience when workers only work a few days or part-time, with income below the basic salary, but are still required to pay social insurance. Businesses requested clear guidance to identify the right subjects and avoid violations.

Regarding the notification of increase or decrease in insurance and the obligations of enterprises when employees receive unemployment benefits, many enterprises encounter difficulties when employees who are receiving unemployment insurance have returned to work without notifying the Employment Service Center, making it impossible for enterprises to report the increase in social insurance on time. The units recommend that the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance have a flexible coordination mechanism to avoid violations for enterprises.

Regarding policies for foreign workers and special cases, foreign-invested enterprises often encounter difficulties in implementing social insurance regulations for foreigners who are managers, experts, or legal representatives. For example, for foreigners who move internally, work for short periods of less than 180 days, or receive salaries from parent companies abroad, there are currently no clear guidelines.

Business representatives raised concerns and made recommendations. *Photo: H.Pham*

In addition, representatives of some businesses also reported incorrect job titles and system errors in the process of transferring data between social insurance agencies; the VssID application often had errors, interrupting the process of confirming, looking up and closing social insurance books for employees.

Therefore, businesses requested the city's Social Insurance to strengthen the control system, provide synchronous lookup tools and automatic notifications via the application; as well as review current regulations, when the director's salary cost is still subject to social insurance but is not included in reasonable expenses when calculating corporate income tax.

In addition, some large-scale production enterprises raised concerns about cutting off health insurance cards when employees are being treated for illness, how to calculate the convalescence leave and half-day leave regime, and requested that the Social Insurance consider temporarily maintaining health insurance cards during the time employees are on sick leave or are inpatients to ensure legitimate rights.

At the dialogue, Mr. Tran Dung Ha - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance answered many questions and informed about the upcoming implementation guidance documents.

Representatives of the Social Insurance Agency emphasized the standardization of electronic data, increased online support, and shortened file processing time; and recommended that businesses proactively coordinate in updating and verifying information to ensure the rights of employees.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-doi-thoai-voi-doanh-nghiep-ve-chinh-sach-bao-hiem-xa-hoi-y-te-that-nghiep-723266.html