Tiếng Việt
中文 (中国)
When employees reach retirement age, they will often pay attention to remuneration regimes and welfare regimes such as pensions, sickness care for the elderly, allowances, support from social groups like the Vietnam Elderly Association, etc. In addition, due to old age, suffering from many underlying diseases, and an increased risk of death, pensioners often pay attention to the benefits that they are entitled to as well as the support they can leave to their children and grandchildren. So, what are the regulations on the welfare regime when pensioners die early in Vietnam?
The benefits that the pensioner’s relatives receive when the pensioner, unfortunately, dies early will depend a lot on how long the pensioner died, namely the time since they have been eligible for the pension regime and started receiving a pension.
Basically, relatives of pensioners who unfortunately die early will be able to receive 2 types of benefits, namely funeral allowance, and monthly survivor allowance/lump-sum survivor allowance.
However, in order to enjoy these benefits, relatives of pensioners who unfortunately die early need to pay attention to the implementation of procedures such as submitting a complete and correct dossier within the prescribed time frame.
Submit the dossier to enjoy the welfare regime
For employees who are paying compulsory social insurance and unfortunately die early, their relatives need to submit a request for benefits within 90 days from the date of death of the employee to the employer and the business.
The employer will be obliged to submit the above dossier to the social insurance agency within 30 days from the date of receipt of a complete dossier from the employee’s relative.
For pensioners who unfortunately die early, their relatives need to submit a request for benefits within 90 days from the date of death of the pensioner to the social insurance agency.
Within 08 days from the day on which the complete dossier is received, the social insurance agency shall settle and organize the payment to the relatives of the employee and pensioner who unfortunately die early.
In case of failure to settle within the prescribed timeframe, the social insurance agency must reply in writing and clearly state the reason.
Funeral allowance in Vietnam
Not only pensioners but also for employees who have been participating in social insurance contributions in Vietnam but unfortunately die early, their relatives will need to prepare funeral procedures in accordance with the Vietnam nation’s traditions or according to the wishes of the deceased.
However, considering that the funeral procession for the deceased is not easy for their relatives, especially for families that are not wealthy and are going through a period of emotional instability. That is why Vietnam’s social insurance system has regulations on funeral allowances for relatives of people who are under the social insurance scheme who unfortunately die early.
According to the provisions of Article 66 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, when a citizen dies, the person taking care of the funeral will receive a funeral allowance if the citizen falls into one of the following categories:
- Employees who are paying social insurance premiums or are reserving the payment period but have paid the full 12 months or more;
- The employee dies due to a labor accident or occupational disease or dies during treatment due to a labor accident or occupational disease;
- Persons who are enjoying monthly pensions or occupational accident, occupational disease allowances and have quit their jobs.
Funeral allowance level
According to Clause 2, Article 66 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, the funeral allowance will be equal to 10 times the base salary in the month in which the pensioner dies.
Currently, the base salary in Vietnam is 1.49 million VND and there have been no new changes or adjustments in recent times, so during this period, the relatives of the deceased pensioners – the ones taking care of the funeral procedure will receive the funeral allowance with the amount: 10 x 1.49 = 14.9 million VND.
Monthly survivorship allowance in Vietnam
In addition to the funeral allowance, the family members of the pensioner who unfortunately die early will also receive the monthly survivorship allowance if the pensioner meets one of the following conditions:
- Having paid social insurance premiums for 15 years or more, but have not yet enjoyed a lump-sum social insurance regime;
- Currently on pension;
- Death due to occupational accident or occupational disease;
- Currently receiving monthly occupational accident and disease allowance with a working capacity decrease of 61% or more.
Accordingly, in addition to relatives of people who are enjoying pensions, relatives of individuals who are employees who have paid the full 15 years of social insurance but have not yet enjoyed one-time social insurance or died due to occupational accidents or diseases or are receiving occupational accident or occupational disease allowance with a reduction of 61% or more will also be entitled to a monthly survivorship allowance.
In addition, according to Clause 2, Article 67 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, as relatives of the above subjects, those who meet the conditions for enjoying the monthly survivorship allowance will include:
- Children under 18 years of age; children aged full 18 years or older suffer a working capacity decrease of 81% or more; the child is born when the father dies while the mother is pregnant;
- Wife is 55 years old or older or the husband is 60 years old or older; wife under 55 years old, husband under 60 years old and having a working capacity decrease of 81% or more;
- Natural father, natural mother, the biological father of a spouse, natural mother of a spouse, other family members that the employee is obliged to take care of if he is 60 years of age or older for men, 55 years of age or older for women;
- Natural father, natural mother, the biological father of a spouse, the biological mother of a spouse, other family members that the employee is obliged to take care of if they are under 60 years old for men, under 55 years old for women and have a working capacity decrease of 81% or more.
However, it should be noted that except for direct children who have been shown to have a clear blood relationship, other relatives who want to receive the monthly survivor benefits must have no income or have a monthly income less than the base salary (this income does not include the preferential allowances for people with meritorious services) that is 1.49 million VND/month.
Monthly survivorship allowance level
According to Clause 1, Article 68 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, the monthly survivorship allowance for each relative of the pensioner will be equal to 50% of the base salary. If the relative has no direct caregiver, the monthly survivorship allowance will be 70% of the base salary.
Accordingly, with the current base salary of 1,490,000 VND/month, the monthly survivorship allowance for each relative will be: 50% x 1,490,000 VND/month = 745,000 VND/month.
In addition, in case the relatives do not have someone to directly take care of them, they will receive a subsidy equal to: 70% x 1,490,000 VND/month = 1,043,000 VND/month.
However, related relatives in the monthly survivorship allowance regime should note that for the death of the pensioner, at most only 04 relatives will be entitled to the monthly survivorship allowance. Accordingly, in case of 02 or more deaths, their relatives are entitled to 02 times the above-mentioned allowance.
The time to enjoy the monthly survivorship allowance is from the month immediately following the month the pensioner dies. In case the father dies while the mother is pregnant, at the time the child is born, the monthly survivorship allowance will be started in that month.
Lump-sum survivor allowance in Vietnam
Sometimes, due to special circumstances, there will be a few individuals who are relatives of employees and pensioners who die early and need a large financial sum in a short time.
Similar to the lump-sum social insurance system, for the survivorship allowance system, the relatives of the pensioner who unfortunately die early will also have the right to choose to enjoy the lump-sum survivorship allowance.
According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 69 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, relatives are entitled to a lump-sum survivorship allowance when the person who dies falls into one of the following cases:
- The employee’s death does not fall under the circumstances in which their family members can enjoy a monthly survivorship allowance;
- The employee dies in one of the cases where the relative is entitled to a monthly survivorship allowance but there is no eligible relative;
- Relatives eligible for monthly survivorship allowance wish to receive a lump-sum survivorship allowance, except for children under 06 years old, children or spouses having a working capacity decrease of 81% or more;
- The employee dies without a relative (natural child, adopted child, spouse, biological parent, adoptive parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, or other family members of which the employee has the obligation to take care of them), the lump-sum survivorship allowance shall be made according to the inheritance law.
Lump-sum survivorship allowance level
The lump-sum survivorship allowance is specified in Article 70 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 as follows:
For relatives of people participating in social insurance or reserving the period of payment of social insurance:
Lump-sum survivorship allowance = 1.5 x average monthly salary on which social insurance premiums are based x Number of years of payment of social insurance premium before 2014 + 2 x average monthly salary on which social insurance premiums are based x Number of years of payment of social insurance premiums after 2014
For relatives of pensioners:
For relatives of pensioners, the lump-sum survivorship allowance will change remarkably depending on the number of years the pensioner has enjoyed the pension.
Specifically:
Lump-sum survivorship allowance = 48 x Pension – 0.5 x (Number of months receiving pension – 2) x Pension
In particular, if the pensioner dies within the first 2 months of receiving the pension, it shall be equal to 48 months of the currently enjoying pension.
The lowest level for this regime will be equal to 03 months of currently enjoying pension.
ASL LAW is the top-tier Vietnam law firm for Employment and Labor Law. If you need any advice, please contact us for further information or collaboration.
