Investigators to tackle 162 firms owing social insurance

CPTPP to improve Vietnamese labour rights

Bac Ninh Province's social security agency. VNA/VNS Photo

The Supreme People’s Court last week issued a resolution to instruct agencies and enterprises to impose penalties on insurance fraud and evasion.

Evading insurance payments is no longer a civic offence; it was criminalised in the Criminal Code which took effect in 2015.

The Criminal Code added three offences related to social, health and unemployment insurance fraud and evasion.

However, the articles remain vague, leading to different understandings on the law. There must be instructions for its implementation, said Bui Sy Loi, chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs.

The resolution clarifies the responsibilities of trade unions and social security agencies in the prosecution process. It will facilitate prosecution and criminal execution to protect workers’ rights, Tue said.

“If labourers’ rights are violated, they have the right to submit denunciations to social security agencies in order to sue employers without reporting to trade unions,” he said.

Bui Sy Loi said the resolution will better protect legitimate rights and benefits of labourers.

According to the Viet Nam Social Security, fraud and evasion of insurance payment are getting more difficult to combat as violations get more sophisticated. By the end of July, the insurance debt reached more than VND6 trillion. More than 55,000 units owed money, affecting hundreds of thousands of labourers.

VNS