Failure to return social insurance books to employees, businesses may be fined up to 150 million VND

Legal Consulting Department of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Clause 2, Article 48, Decree 283/2026/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the fields of labor, social insurance, and Vietnamese workers working abroad under contracts (effective from September 10, 2026) stipulates as follows:

3. A fine of between 2 million VND and 4 million VND shall be imposed on each employee for violations, but not exceeding 75 million VND for employers who commit one of the following acts:

a) Paying compulsory social insurance and unemployment insurance for people who are not subject to compulsory social insurance and unemployment insurance;

b) Not providing or providing incomplete information about social insurance of employees when requested by the trade union organization;

c) Not returning the paper copy of the social insurance book to employees as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 13 of the Law on Social Insurance when employees request it;

d) Failure to pay health recovery allowances after work accidents or occupational diseases to employees within 05 days from the date of receiving the allowance transferred by the social insurance agency;

e) Not introducing employees who are subject to the provisions of Article 47 of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health and Article 65 of the Law on Social Insurance to undergo an assessment of working capacity reduction at the Medical Assessment Council;

e) Failure to provide documents on termination of labor contract/work contract or termination of work for employees within 02 working days from the date the employee terminates labor contract/work contract or terminates work; failure to carry out procedures to confirm the payment of unemployment insurance for employees so that employees can promptly complete dossiers to enjoy unemployment insurance according to the provisions of the law on unemployment insurance.

Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP stipulates the level of fines and principles of application for repeated administrative violations as follows:

1. The penalty level stipulated for administrative violations specified in Chapter II, Chapter III and Chapter IV of this Decree is the penalty level for individuals; except for cases specified in: Article 8; Article 9; Clause 3, Article 10; Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 19; Clauses 2, 4, Article 36; Clause 1, Article 37; Clauses 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 38; Clause 3, Article 42; Clauses 6, 11, Article 48; Article 49; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 50; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 52; Clause 4, Article 53 of this Decree is the penalty level for organizations. The penalty level for organizations is 2 times the penalty level for individuals.

Thus, from September 10, 2026, depending on the number of violating employees, the penalty level will be different, but businesses that do not return paper social insurance books to employees when they request them will be fined up to 150 million VND.