Nguyen Hanh Phuc, Chairman of the National Assembly Office, talks about the National Assembly's decision to protect workers' insurance benefits.

Mr. Nguyen Hanh Phuc.

The National Assembly has agreed to extend the duration for workers to receive a one time insurance benefit. Can you elaborate on the NA's decision?

On June 4, deputies were asked to vote on whether to allow workers who had stopped working for one year or not paid enough social insurance to receive a one-off insurance payment. Among the 479 eligible ballots, 411 ballots agreed.

These results show that the majority of the lawmakers agreed that workers should be allowed to claim a one-off insurance payment as written in Article 55 of the Law on Social Insurance until 2020. In parallel, Article 60 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance will still be in effect in early 2016.

When do you think the National Assembly adopt this Resolution?

The Resolution will be adopted on June 22 and will come into effect immediately. That means after January 1, 2016, both Article 60 of the 2014 Social Insurance Law and Article 55 of the 2006 Law on Social Insurance will be applied.

What must the workers do to access the lump-sum social insurance payment outlined in Article 55 of the 2006 Social Insurance Law?

In the long run, Article 60 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance will protect workers' long term benefits, not Article 55 of the 2006 Law on Social Insurance.

What advice would you give people working in the communications field, as they play a very important role in gathering public opinions about the proposed changes to the law?

In my opinion, it is important to conduct communication campaigns to help people understand the Government's policies. Of course, this is the responsibility of the Government and the media to explain the meaning of Article 60 in the 2014 Law on Social Insurance.

However, the Government has yet to issue a Decree guiding the implementation of the 2014 Law. This is the main reason why many workers don't understand the benefits of Article 60.

I hope Article 60 will not become a precedent for other laws in the future. 

VNS