On January 21, Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Court opened an appellate trial to hear an administrative case related to a dispute over late payment interest on social insurance (SI) between a seafood processing enterprise in Cam Ranh and the local SI agency.
This is considered a rare case when businesses stand up to sue insurance agencies for the method of calculating late payment interest, as representatives of workers' rights.
Suing from the consequences of the economic crisis
The plaintiff in the case is Mr. Vo Ngoc Hiep - General Director of Cam Ranh Seafood Processing and Export Co., Ltd. (Cam Ranh Seafood Company), and also the representative of the collective of employees of the enterprise.
The defendant is Cam Ranh Social Insurance, related to the calculation and collection of late payment interest on social insurance.
According to Mr. Hiep's presentation, in the period 2008-2009, due to the impact of the global economic crisis, seafood export activities faced many difficulties, and businesses faced the risk of bankruptcy.
Faced with that situation, through the trade union organization and under the guidance of the Cam Ranh City Labor Federation, the company agreed with employees to dismiss them and pay each employee an equivalent of 10 months' salary.
In parallel with resolving benefits for employees, the company also applied to stop paying all types of insurance for employees who have quit their jobs. The agreement and finalization of social insurance books for employees was carried out in July 2009.
However, due to having to focus on handling production and business issues during the crisis period, decisions to dismiss workers were signed by businesses a few months later than the time of book closing.
According to businesses, the late issuance of this decision has led to prolonged disputes with the social insurance agency.
Based on the decisions for employees to resign signed afterwards, Cam Ranh Social Insurance determined that the enterprise still has the obligation to pay social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational accident and disease insurance and late payment interest with a total amount of more than 184 million VND.
When the economic situation gradually stabilized, Cam Ranh Seafood Company continued to pay various types of insurance for employees working.
However, according to the enterprise's reflection, the social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance amounts that the company paid in February, March, and April 2021 were arbitrarily deducted by Cam Ranh Social Insurance from the above-mentioned "late payment interest".
Businesses believe that this profit is "unreal", arising from an inappropriate calculation method, lasting for many years without being compared and finalized.
After reviewing the entire insurance payment process from 2009 to 2020, Cam Ranh Seafood Company claimed that it had overpaid the social insurance agency more than 252 million VND.
From there, the enterprise filed a lawsuit, requesting the court to declare the act of calculating late payment interest and the deduction of insurance money of Cam Ranh Social Insurance illegal; and at the same time proposed to partially cancel Decision No. 441 dated August 18, 2021 of the Director of Cam Ranh Social Insurance.
Court of first instance rejects all lawsuit requests
This administrative case has gone through many first-instance trials. In the most recent first-instance judgment, issued in February 2025, the District 2 People's Court rejected all lawsuits of businesses.
According to the assessment of the panel of judges, the issuance of Dispute Settlement Decision No. 441 by Cam Ranh Social Insurance is within its authority, in the correct order and time according to legal regulations.
The court argued that the late payment interest of more than 184 million VND was calculated based on the amount of social insurance and health insurance still owed and newly incurred from August 2009 to the time of inspection on November 25, 2020, which is in accordance with regulations.
Regarding the argument that Cam Ranh Social Insurance did not proactively compare debts, leading to prolonged interest generation, the jury determined: From January 1, 2011 to now, Cam Ranh Social Insurance has made 13 working minutes with businesses to determine social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance debts.
At the same time, issued 9 official letters requesting the company to coordinate debt comparison.
The court argued that the fact that the two parties could not agree on the data did not change the financial obligations of the enterprise and was not the fault of the social insurance agency.
Disagreeing with this ruling, Mr. Vo Ngoc Hiep appealed.
