17,365 enterprises owe social insurance
Ms. Luong Thi Toi - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs - said that by the end of 2023, Ho Chi Minh City has 2.76 million people participating in compulsory social insurance (SI), reaching a rate of over 54% in places with labor relations, the number of people participating in voluntary social insurance reached 2% compared to the labor force aged 15 and older.
Thus, the number of people participating in social insurance reached 56% compared to the labor force. However, due to some enterprises facing difficulties in maintaining employment for workers because of reduced orders, enterprises had to temporarily suspend operations or cut labor, greatly affecting the lives of workers, making it impossible for them to continue participating in social insurance, and workers have a tendency to receive one-time social insurance payments at a high rate.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thanh - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance - said that by June 2024, the amount of delayed social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance payments is nearly 6,872 billion VND, after deducting the amount delayed for less than a month, the difficult-to-collect delayed social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance payments remain nearly 4,477 billion VND.
According to Mr. Thanh, small and micro enterprises outside industrial zones often evade the law by intentionally not participating in social insurance for workers.
Additionally, these small units do not have labor unions to protect the rights of workers, so when workers lose their jobs, their income is affected but they are not guaranteed benefits from the social insurance fund.
Many enterprises evade the law by signing job contract agreements, business cooperation contracts, service contracts, labor contracts under 14 days, or recording attendance under 14 days... to avoid participating in social insurance for workers.
According to Mr. Pham Chi Tam - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation - by the end of June 2024, the entire Ho Chi Minh City has 17,365 enterprises owing social insurance for 3 months or more for over 93,000 workers. Among them, 40 enterprises owe large amounts from 6 billion VND or more, and some even owe over 30 billion VND in social insurance, directly affecting the rights and benefits of workers.
Need to resolve the situation of evading social insurance payments
At the conference, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Police informed that the reason for not yet prosecuting any cases or individuals related to enterprises violating social insurance laws is due to the requirement under Article 216 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended in 2017, on the crime of "Evading social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance payments for workers," which mandates that violators must first be administratively sanctioned for this behavior to have sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution.
Ms. Nguyen Vo Minh Thu - Deputy Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones - suggested applying sanctions to enterprise owners owing social insurance similar to tax debts.
Meanwhile, Ms. Trinh Thi Huyen Thanh - Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union - proposed that there should be a peak period, even extending throughout the year, to thoroughly address the situation of enterprises evading social insurance payments because the contributions made by enterprises are insufficient to remedy the consequences for workers' rights and social security caused by enterprises evading social insurance payments.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Department - stated that enterprises fully paying social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance not only ensure the rights of workers and social security but also significantly contribute to the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, the entire political system of Ho Chi Minh City needs to strengthen propaganda and supervision of the implementation of social insurance policies so that enterprises and workers are aware of their rights and obligations. Mr. Cuong also suggested increasing inspections and audits not only to handle and deter enterprises evading social insurance payments but also to promptly reward and commend enterprises that well implement social insurance policies and to enhance the role of labor unions in supporting and supervising the implementation of social insurance policies by enterprises.
