Proposal to publicly disclose information about businesses that are slow to pay or evade social insurance

Continuing the 7th Session, the National Assembly spent the entire working day of May 27 discussing in the hall a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended).

Clarify responsibilities if social insurance evasion increases

Speaking at the discussion, delegate Le Thi Thanh Lam (Hau Giang delegation) said that recently, the problem of evasion, late payment, especially social insurance debt, is still occurring in many businesses and localities, affecting the legitimate rights of workers.

Delegate Le Thi Thanh Lam (Hau Giang delegation) speaks. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Delegates suggested that the Government should have separate regulations on the responsibility of organizing inspections of enterprises, possibly assigning the social insurance sector to be responsible for inspecting and sanctioning violating enterprises or recommending and recommending that they go to court according to the Penal Code.

At the same time, it is necessary to require enterprises to have a reserve fund or an operating fund according to the percentage that the enterprise puts into operation, and have a target ratio so that during the implementation process, enterprises must ensure the rights to pay health insurance, social insurance, unemployment insurance, and occupational accident insurance for employees, so that employees will not be disadvantaged.

“When a business operates well, it will take better care of its employees. If there are any risks, it will still ensure funds for employees in terms of health insurance, social insurance or accident insurance so that employees do not lose their benefits. This is also a condition to ensure employees can better participate in social insurance,” said delegate Lam.

In addition to strengthening inspection, examination and handling of violations of social insurance, delegate Vuong Thi Huong (Ha Giang delegation) proposed that the draft Law stipulate more clearly the roles and responsibilities of state management agencies and agencies implementing social insurance policies if the situation of evasion and late payment of social insurance increases.

Regarding organizations, companies, and enterprises that evade or owe social insurance contributions, delegates said that there should also be regulations and a regime for widely publicizing information, debt status, debt amount, debt duration, late payment, and evasion of compulsory social insurance contributions of these organizations, companies, and enterprises so that workers can monitor and have more information in choosing to participate in the labor market.

“Information about late payment and evasion of social insurance for employees, in addition to being made public, must also be made accessible and looked up quickly by employees, so that employees can recognize it and create competition in the labor market between businesses and protect the rights of employees in the best way,” delegate Huong stated.

Delegate Dao Chi Nghia (Can Tho delegation). (Photo: DUY LINH)

Agreeing with the above viewpoint, delegate Dao Chi Nghia (Can Tho delegation) proposed to add a regulation that "competent agencies shall notify the names and addresses of enterprises that are late in paying or evading social insurance to employees through mass media as well as update the database system of job placement centers and employment services on the status of late payment or evading social insurance of enterprises" so that employees have full information before deciding to choose the enterprise they want to work for. According to the delegate, this regulation will ensure warning, deterrence and transparency in terms of information.

Emphasizing that the situation of delay and evasion of compulsory social insurance payment is an extremely difficult problem, delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap delegation) proposed that the draft Law must stipulate the responsibility of Vietnam Social Security in regularly checking, urging and reminding those who are late or evading social insurance payment, reminding them every 3 months so that these subjects can promptly correct themselves.

Agree on regulations on special mechanism to protect workers who are late or evade paying social insurance

Article 41 of the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) stipulates a special mechanism to protect employees in case the employer is no longer able to pay social insurance for the employee.

Highly agreeing on the need for the above regulation to prevent and protect the legitimate rights of workers, delegate Nguyen Thanh Nam (Phu Tho delegation) emphasized that this is an urgent requirement to resolve special cases, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of workers when they have fully performed their responsibilities as social insurance participants.

According to the delegate, in practice, in recent times, many business owners have evaded or owed social insurance payments, and have not been able to collect them, and employees in the business have not enjoyed social insurance benefits. This draft law has made amendments and improved the effectiveness of handling late payment and evasion of social insurance payments, which will certainly have a positive impact on protecting the rights of employees.

“However, when many cases, even if punished and prosecuted, cannot be handled, workers will still be the most disadvantaged while they are not at fault. These people need to be protected and supported through special mechanisms,” said delegate Nam.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Nam (Phu Tho delegation). (Photo: DUY LINH)

In addition, delegates proposed to study and calculate resources to further expand the scope of workers supported by the state budget during the period of delayed payment or evasion of payment to cover vulnerable groups, such as those with reduced working capacity, especially those due to work-related accidents, people who are frequently sick, people with underlying diseases, etc.

Regarding prohibited acts, Clause 2, Article 8 of the draft Law stipulates the prohibition of appropriation of social insurance benefits. According to delegate Dang Thi Bao Trinh (Quang Nam delegation), such provisions are not sufficient, and the Drafting Committee is requested to maintain the prohibited acts stipulated in Clause 3, Article 17 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance, which is "prohibition of appropriation of social insurance and unemployment insurance contributions and benefits".

Explaining the reason, the delegate said that in reality, the situation of employers delaying the payment of social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance for employees but still deducting from the monthly contributions of employees when paying salaries is common. Therefore, the Law needs to stipulate the act of prohibiting the appropriation of social insurance and accident insurance contributions in order to have a basis for handling violations of this act.

Sharing the same concern, delegate Thai Quynh Mai Dung (Vinh Phuc delegation) said that the current draft Law only prohibits acts of illegally accessing, exploiting, and providing social insurance databases. Meanwhile, there are many other acts such as taking advantage of electronic transactions, infringing upon the rights and legitimate interests of agencies, organizations, and individuals; acts of fraud, forgery, appropriation, or illegal use of electronic transaction accounts. Therefore, the delegate suggested adding more prohibited acts to make them complete or possibly regulating prohibited acts according to the provisions of the law on electronic transactions.

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