In the context of economic development, payment to social insurance for employees is a legal obligation of Vietnamese businesses. However, some businesses do not comply with these regulations, leading to serious issues concerning the rights and social welfare of employees.
Several proposed measures aim to address this situation, including significantly increasing fines for businesses that delay or avoid social insurance contributions. Enhanced inspection procedures, from district to central levels, are suggested to ensure businesses adhere to social insurance regulations. Legal responsibilities of business owners and relevant managers should be pursued if violations persist or are severe.
For administrative penalties, the fines should be calculated as a percentage of the overdue social insurance contributions and applied monthly until the debts are settled.
In the draft amendment of the Social Insurance Law, there is a proposal to impose additional penalties on employers who delay or avoid social insurance contributions. They may face an additional interest rate of 0.03% per day on the overdue amount for mandatory social insurance contributions, calculated from the latest deadline for late payments. Employers are still required to pay the full overdue amount and may face administrative penalties as stipulated.
Social insurance authorities have the right to file lawsuits and propose prosecution in cases showing signs of criminal offenses related to avoiding social insurance contributions, following the provisions of the Criminal Code.
Furthermore, the new draft includes provisions stating that employers must compensate employees if they do not participate in or insufficiently contribute to social insurance, causing harm to the legal rights and benefits of employees.
Previously, if businesses avoided or delayed social insurance contributions, employees might not have their rights protected, such as pension benefits, one-time social insurance claims, or unemployment allowances. However, since the effective date of Circular No. 1880 issued by the Vietnam Social Insurance to provincial and centrally-affiliated cities regarding the implementation of social insurance policies for employees in units with insufficient or non-contributions, employees can still enjoy their benefits until the date when the business ceases social insurance payments.
If businesses find methods to make up for the missing or insufficient contributions in the future, the Social Insurance Agency will calculate additional contribution periods to adjust the benefits and additional payments (if applicable).
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