Ho Chi Minh City has more than 30,600 firms that are slow to pay social insurance, equivalent to an amount of more than VND3,260 billion. Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance and related units have implemented many solutions to urge businesses to pay social insurance and drastically collect social insurance debt to ensure workers' social insurance rights.
At the end of 2023, worker Nguyen Thi Hong of Thai Tuan Company located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 12 had to submit a resignation letter to find a new job because the company owed her salary and social insurance for a long time. While working at Thai Tuan Company, Ms. Tham was pregnant but she had to pay all the medical examination costs during pregnancy and childbirth herself because the company owed her social insurance so her health insurance cards couldn’t be used.
By the end of December 2023, when Ms. Hong quit her job, the company had paid all her salary and maternity leave, but the company hadn’t paid social insurance payment for three months.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance’s data, as of December 31, 2023, the city had 30,629 firms owing social insurance debt of one month or more, with an amount of more than VND3,260 billion. Of these, 10,615 firms have not paid employees’ insurance for six months or more, with a total amount of more than VND2,537 billion.
According to Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance Lo Quan Hiep, businesses owing social insurance money greatly affect the rights of workers, especially in health insurance for medical examination and treatment, and workers who lose their jobs can’t enjoy their unemployment insurance.
Recently, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance has implemented many solutions to collect social insurance debts. The insurance agency encouraged difficult companies while it proposed the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to issue a decision to impose administrative penalties on companies that intentionally violated the regulation.
Director Lo Quan Hiep said that the social insurance agency has implemented many solutions and measures to recover late payment of social insurance to ensure employees’ social insurance rights. However, due to the impact of the prolonged Covid-19 epidemic and the world economic downturn, many enterprises in the fields of garment, leather shoes, and wood processing have encountered difficulties, leading to late payment of social insurance.
In addition, some wealthy businesses deliberately do not pay even though the social insurance agency has urged employers to pay debts and inspectors issued fines on these businesses for their violations.
Vietnam Social Insurance strictly prohibits irresponsibility which helps businesses to delay payment or avoid paying social insurance for a long time by paying more visits to firms with a large number of employees, a large amount of late payment of social insurance or a high risk of late payment, affecting the rights of workers. If inspectors discover signs of the crime of evasion of payment of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance, they will ask for an investigation carried out by competent authorities and even prosecution.
Meanwhile, the municipal People's Committee also requested heads of departments, agencies, unions, the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance, and chairpersons of people's committees in districts and Thu Duc City to develop plans for inspections of enterprises which are slow to pay social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance. At the same time, city authorities finished records for prosecution of firms that are deliberately slow to pay social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance. Many businesses that are slow to pay social insurance were forced to develop a commitment plan and pay social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance according to schedule.
In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance paid visits to 3,125 firms requesting 1,531 business establishments to pay the social insurance debt of VND312 billion. Furthermore, inspectors required establishments to buy social insurance for 842 employees, with an amount of VND6.1 billion.
Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance Lo Quan Hiep said that the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance coordinates with departments and agencies to increase information and dissemination of policies and legal regulations on social insurance and health insurance to raise people's awareness of employers and employees' awareness of paying and enjoying social insurance and health insurance benefits.
