The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

Nghe An Trade Union was present at Ben Thuy 2 bridge to support workers returning from the southern provinces. Photo: DVCC

Policy to temporarily suspend contributions to pension and death funds

Clause 2, Section II on the policy of temporarily suspending contributions to the pension and death benefit fund is amended and supplemented as follows: Employers who have paid enough social insurance or are temporarily suspending contributions to the pension and death benefit fund until the end of January 2021 and are affected by the pandemic, the Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a reduction of 10% or more of employees participating in social insurance compared to January 2021 (including employees who have stopped working, temporarily suspended the performance of labor contracts, and agreed to take unpaid leave), then employees and employers are allowed to temporarily suspend contributions to the pension and death benefit fund for 6 months from the time of submitting the application.

Thus, the conditions for enjoying the policy of temporarily suspending contributions to the Pension and Death Fund have been relaxed compared to Resolution 68. (Resolution 68 stipulates that the condition for the reduction of employees participating in social insurance is 15% or more compared to April 2021).

Policy to support employees who temporarily suspend their labor contracts and take unpaid leave

The policy to support employees who temporarily suspend their labor contracts or take unpaid leave in Clause 4, Section II is amended and supplemented as follows: Employees working under labor contracts, participating in compulsory social insurance up to the time immediately before suspending the performance of the labor contract or taking unpaid leave; have a period of temporary suspension of the performance of the labor contract, unpaid leave during the term of the labor contract from 15 consecutive days or more, from May 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 and the time of starting the temporary suspension of the performance of the labor contract, unpaid leave is from May 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 and is in one of the following cases: Must be treated, the Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic, medical isolation, in locked-down areas, unable to go to the workplace due to the request of competent State agencies to prevent and fight the epidemic The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties due to Covid-19; by employers temporarily suspending operations at the request of competent State agencies to prevent and fight the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 epidemic or has a head office, branch, representative office, production and business location in the area implementing epidemic prevention and control measures according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg or rearranging production and labor to prevent and fight the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, and is supported one time as follows: From 15 consecutive days or more to less than 1 month, the level is 1,855,000 VND/person; from 1 month or more, the level is 3,710,000 VND/person.

Support policy for laid-off workers

Regarding the policy to support employees who are suspended from work in Clause 5, Section II, amended and supplemented as follows: Employees working under a labor contract who are suspended from work for reasons specified in Clause 3, Article 99 of the Labor Code; are participating in compulsory social insurance as of the time immediately before the suspension of work and are in one of the following cases: Must be treated, the Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic, medical isolation, in locked-down areas or cannot go to the workplace due to the request of a competent State agency according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg; Employers who have to temporarily suspend operations at the request of competent State agencies or have headquarters, branches, representative offices, production and business locations in the area implementing epidemic prevention and control measures according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg or rearranging production and labor to prevent and control the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 epidemic for 14 consecutive days or more from May 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, will receive a one-time support of VND 1,000,000/person.

Thai Hoa Town Labor Federation gives gifts to support workers in the blockade area. Photo: PV

Policy to support employees to terminate labor contracts

Point 6, Section II on the policy to support employees who terminate their labor contracts is amended and supplemented as follows: Employees working under labor contracts, participating in compulsory social insurance, must terminate their labor contracts from May 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 and are in one of the following cases: Must be quarantined, in locked-down areas or cannot go to the workplace due to the request of competent State agencies to prevent and fight the epidemic, the Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties due to Covid-19; due to employers having their operations suspended at the request of competent State agencies to prevent and fight the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by Covid-19 or employers with headquarters, branches, representative offices, production and business locations in the area implementing epidemic prevention and control measures according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg or rearranging production and labor to prevent and fight the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by Covid-19 but are not eligible for unemployment benefits, are supported one time with VND 3,710,000/person.

Supplementing support policies for the elderly and people with disabilities

In Clause 7, Section II, the cash support policy for the elderly and the disabled is supplemented as follows: The elderly and the severely disabled, the extremely severely disabled as prescribed in Clause 5 and Clause 6, Article 5 of Decree No. 20/2021/ND-CP dated March 15, 2021 of the Government, who must be treated for infection. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic (F0) or medical isolation as prescribed by competent State agencies (F1) will receive an additional State budget support of 1 million VND/person during the treatment and isolation period from April 27, 2021 to December 31, 2021.

Business support policy

The support policy for business households in Clause 10, Section II is amended and supplemented as follows: Business households with business registration and listed in the tax authority's directory; business households, agricultural, forestry, fishery production, salt production and street vendors, snack vendors, itinerant traders, mobile businesses, seasonal businesses, low-income service providers who are not required to register their business households and must stop operations for 15 consecutive days or more due to the request of a competent State agency to prevent and fight the epidemic. The Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by Covid-19, or because of having a business location in the area implementing epidemic prevention and control measures according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg during the period from May 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, will receive a one-time support of VND 3 million/household from the State budget.

Loan policy for paying wages for work stoppages and restoring production

The loan policy for paying severance pay at Point a, Clause 11, Section II is amended and supplemented as follows: Employers are allowed to borrow capital from the Social Policy Bank with an interest rate of 0% and are not required to take measures to secure the loan to pay severance pay for employees participating in compulsory social insurance who are required to stop working for 15 consecutive days or more as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 99, Labor Code, during the period from May 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. The maximum loan amount is equal to the regional minimum wage for the number of employees according to the actual severance pay period of up to 3 months. The loan term is less than 12 months.

Regarding loans to pay wages to restore production at Point b, Clause 11, Section II, the amendments and supplements are as follows: Employers who must temporarily suspend operations due to the request of competent State agencies to prevent and fight the epidemic, the Government amends and supplements Resolution 68/NQ-CP to support difficulties caused by the Covid-19 epidemic; employers with headquarters, branches, representative offices, production and business locations in the area implementing epidemic prevention and control measures according to the principles of Directive No. 16/CT-TTg and employers operating in the fields of transportation, aviation, tourism, accommodation services and sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad under contracts during the period from May 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 are allowed to borrow capital from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies with an interest rate of 0% and are not required to take measures to secure loans to pay wages to employees. The maximum loan amount is equal to the regional minimum wage for employees working under labor contracts and participating in compulsory social insurance with a maximum actual salary payment period of 3 months. Loan term is less than 12 months.

Regulations on actual expenditure of localities

At Point b, Clause 2, Section III, the following amendments and supplements are made: Based on the provisions of Point d, Clause 2, Section I of this Resolution, relevant legal provisions and the actual budget expenditures of localities (with confirmation from the State Treasury) to consider and supplement the central budget to the local budget. In case the epidemic occurs on a large scale and the local budget does not have enough resources to implement, based on the proposal of the provincial People's Committee, the Ministry of Finance shall supplement the local budget up to 70% of the proposed level of central budget support to promptly implement the policy. After the locality has a report on the results of budget expenditures to support employees and employers (the locality is responsible for the authenticity of the reported data), the Ministry of Finance shall supplement or withdraw the central budget estimate based on the actual support for the subjects according to regulations; synthesize and report to the Prime Minister on the situation and implementation results./.