It is necessary to ensure the rights of teachers in Nam Dan district in the case of requesting to collect nearly 4.6 billion VND in insurance money.

Ensuring rights for teachers

On the afternoon of March 17, relevant departments in Nam Dan district held a meeting to discuss how to resolve the case.311 teachers in the area were charged nearly 4.6 billion VND in social insurance arrears.“Currently, there is no solution yet. After the relevant departments and offices meet, we will have to continue to ask for opinions from the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and relevant departments and agencies. But no matter how it is resolved, I am confident that the rights of teachers will be guaranteed,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thai Huyen - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training said that after receiving the report from the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district, the unit will also direct schools to encourage teachers to work with peace of mind, not to be too panicked, affecting teaching and learning in schools.

“The Department of Education and Training’s viewpoint is to ensure the rights of teachers, while also complying with legal regulations,” said Mr. Hoan, adding that in the coming time, the Department of Education and Training will also send documents to the People’s Committees of districts, cities, towns and schools in the area to review the policies and regimes for teachers and the school’s development plans to promptly detect similar cases.

Regarding the responsibility for this incident, Mr. Hoan said that the primary responsibility belongs to the People's Committee of Nam Dan district in 2011. Specifically, the departments responsible for advising the People's Committee of the district such as the Department of Internal Affairs, the Department of Education and Training, and the Social Insurance of Nam Dan district.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district said that the Social Insurance cannot push the responsibility to the units. “If the Social Insurance does not notify, it is also their fault. Everything must be notified to be known. The incident happened 14 years ago, the people responsible at that time have also retired. The important thing now is to find a solution,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thai Huyen.

Struggling to find a solution

According to the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district, in the past, in the district, there were a number of cases that were reassigned to raise salary grades according to Official Dispatch No. 3434/UBND-VX dated June 26, 2006 of the Provincial People's Committee but had not paid enough of the difference (Social Insurance, Health Insurance, Unemployment Insurance) when reassigned to raise salary grades.

Specifically, in 2024, at a number of schools, 3 individuals had decided to retire according to the regime. After the schools issued decisions to retire and enjoy social insurance benefits according to regulations, the schools completed the documents and sent them to Nam Dan District Social Insurance to submit for settlement of retirement benefits according to regulations for each subject. However, when receiving the documents of the above individuals, Nam Dan District Social Insurance conducted a review and comparison to settle the regime for the subjects and discovered that these cases were transferred to the salary classification according to Official Dispatch No. 3434/UBND-VX dated June 26, 2006 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee and Inter-sectoral Instruction No. 884/HDLN dated June 29, 2007, but the difference (Social Insurance, Health Insurance, Unemployment Insurance) has not yet been paid when the salary classification is reclassified.

Next, Nam Dan District Social Insurance reviewed the overall social insurance payment situation in the district and discovered that 315 teachers and employees (including 4 individuals who did not generate any money) in kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in the district had their salary levels re-ranked but had not yet paid the difference. The amount of the difference as of November 2024 was nearly 4.6 billion VND. Of which, the original amount was nearly 2 billion VND, the rest was the difference.

The Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district said that on November 8, 2024, the unit had sent a report to the District People's Committee and the Department of Home Affairs on this issue. At the same time, it was requested that the District People's Committee give its opinion and direct the Department of Home Affairs to coordinate with relevant departments, branches and sectors to advise the District People's Committee to direct the Nam Dan District Social Insurance to promptly make payments to the subjects. On January 9, 2025, the Nam Dan District People's Committee held a meeting with Nghe An Social Insurance to discuss solutions to implement the regime for subjects reassigned to the salary scale according to Official Dispatch No. 3434/UBND-VX dated June 26, 2006 of the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee.

“On January 13, 2025, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district issued Decision No. 249/QD-UBND on the establishment of a Team to review records and subjects for salary re-grading according to Official Dispatch No. 3434/UBND-VX dated June 26, 2006 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province. After the review, the People's Committee of the district organized a meeting with 3 individuals who had retired but had not yet received benefits. Currently, the functional branches of the People's Committee of the district are researching to find a solution," said Ms. Huyen.

More than 20 years ago, in the context of a serious shortage of teachers, the People's Committees of districts in Nghe An had to recruit teachers and school staff on contract to meet teaching needs. However, these teachers recruited by the district were not given salary increases according to regulations. In 2006, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a document directing departments and branches to review and provide guidance on salary increases. Then, on June 29, 2007, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Finance and Social Insurance of Nghe An province issued an inter-sectoral document guiding the rearrangement of salary levels.

In Nam Dan district, in 2011, these teachers were given a salary increase in a "leapfrog" manner to compensate for the time they had not received a salary increase before. Many teachers were raised from 1 to 4 salary levels but were not paid back wages. These teachers said they were also not notified to pay insurance premiums for the increase.

It was only when the Nam Dan District Social Insurance Department sent a notice to schools in the area where teachers had received such salary increases to collect insurance money that they were shocked. Among the 311 teachers who were asked to collect, the one with the highest debt was over 65 million VND. Most of the rest were at 50 million VND.

"If we had been notified at that time and paid 5% of the social insurance premium as prescribed, the amount would not have been significant. Now, after more than 10 years of being notified, many teachers have to pay 20-30 million VND in interest, which is very unreasonable," said a teacher who was asked to pay back the debt.

Regarding this incident, a leader of the Nam Dan District Social Insurance said that the decision to upgrade the salary of contract teachers by the People's Committee of Nghe An Province in 2011 was of a special nature due to the shortage of teachers and school staff. According to the inter-sectoral guidance, these teachers are only entitled to receive back wages, not back wages. The guidance also clearly states that the units should go directly to the financial and social insurance agencies to receive funds to settle the social insurance regime for these workers. In 2011, the Nam Dan District People's Committee decided to allow employees in educational institutions on the payroll to receive back wages. At this time, educational institutions should have worked with the Finance Department to have funds to settle the matter, and at the same time, required the workers to complete the paperwork and send it to the district Social Insurance for settlement, but the school did not do so.

(Nghe An Newspaper will continue to update)