Handing over social insurance books: Transparent participation and benefit process

Many advantages for workers

More than 1 year after the handover of social insurance books, many employees of Agricultural Nutrition Company Limited (Nam Cam Industrial Park) have given this activity many compliments because of its practical benefits. The implementation of policies for employees in the company is considered good, however, because the social insurance payment period of each person is different, the closing time when transferring from the old company to the current company is difficult to remember, so each time the policy is made, officers and employees have to spend time looking up and learning about new policy information to calculate and compare the benefits in accordance with the law. Since the handover of social insurance books for self-storage and preservation, employees have been proactive in checking the payment and benefit information at any time.

Mr. Le Truong Giang - Director of Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance presented social insurance books to employees of Agricultural Nutrition Company Limited. Photo: Chu Thanh

Similarly, 20 employees of Vietnam Salt Company Limited - a branch located in Quynh Yen commune, Quynh Luu district also shared the same feeling of excitement after more than 1 year of "owning" their social insurance books. Employees of this company said that for a long time, through the mass media, they have heard a lot about stories of evading and delaying social insurance payments for employees. Many people are worried about many "tricks" of businesses to circumvent the law, seriously violating the rights of employees, but only when they need their social insurance books and health insurance cards do they "fall flat on their faces". Therefore, when they are handed over their social insurance books, most employees feel more confident to protect their own rights.

The concerns and worries of employees about the compliance of enterprises with legal regulations and the proper implementation of their legal regimes and benefits are not unfounded. Before embarking on the roadmap for handing over social insurance books, the provincial Social Insurance Department recognized that, in reality, for a long time, employers have been responsible for preserving the social insurance books of employees during their working time at the unit and returning the books when they no longer work. However, the implementation of this regulation still has some shortcomings such as employees not being informed about the social insurance payment process.

Some units, businesses, and people who are in charge of keeping social insurance books for employees are mainly part-time, often rotated and changed, and pay little attention to keeping social insurance books, so the safety is not absolute, and there are cases of books being lost or misplaced in some places. Many businesses still deduct monthly social insurance contributions from employees' salaries but do not submit them to the social insurance agency but instead appropriate them for other purposes... Therefore, letting employees manage their own social insurance books is one of the policies to ensure maximum benefits for employees as well as reduce time and costs for businesses.

Right from the beginning of 2017, after receiving instructions from Vietnam Social Security, Nghe An Social Security has seriously and synchronously implemented solutions, focused on conditions of facilities, techniques, and resources; developed implementation plans; established steering groups and professional groups; launched emulation movements; organized training and provided professional guidance for the work of reviewing and handing over social security books...

According to statistics, as of September 30, 2018, the whole province has printed and reviewed 203,033 books/203,088 books that need to be printed, reviewed and handed over, reaching 99.97% of the plan assigned by Vietnam Social Security.

3 districts with a handover rate of 100% are Vinh City, Ky Son and Nghi Loc; 12 districts have a handover rate of over 99%. 3 districts have a handover rate of less than 98%: Hung Nguyen 98.33%, Yen Thanh 98.48% and Dien Chau 98.56%.

Overall assessment, the quality of the social insurance books handed over was carried out in accordance with regulations, and checks and reviews were carried out on records and data to ensure correct and consistent matching.

Efforts to remove obstacles

During the process of handing over the books, the local Social Insurance also reported some problems and shortcomings in practice. Accordingly, many issued Social Insurance books, when reviewed, found that the process of transferring salary and receiving position allowances in the past was not in accordance with the regulations on salary levels. Many Social Insurance books had not been finalized until December 2008, especially those transferred from other provinces, so it was necessary to compare with the data of closing the reserved books on the lookup page to determine (in many cases there was no data, verification documents had to be sent), slowing down the review process; the data entry of the Social Insurance payment process before 2008 on the Social Insurance books into the software was still erroneous and inaccurate compared to the information of the employees such as: title, payment time, work address, etc.

Notably, the work of reviewing and determining the time and level of contribution of commune officials also encountered many difficulties due to the previous lack of strictness in the appointment to specialized positions at the commune level, and the unit that compiled the list of social insurance participants did not comply with the regulations of the Provincial People's Committee.

Other problems include the social insurance book belonging to preschool teachers with working time before 1995 but without a recruitment decision; the title of heavy and hazardous jobs recorded on the social insurance book is not in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs; employees working in the district have regional allowances, but the social insurance book does not collect regional allowances...

Provincial Social Insurance officers look up and check information to hand over social insurance books to employees. Photo: PA

According to the assessment, the remaining books are those with many problems such as incorrect titles, salaries, and working time, but the original records are no longer available, making it very difficult to review and hand over social insurance books to employees. In addition, some units have not really coordinated to conduct the review, although the social insurance agency has assigned specialized staff to coordinate with the post office to urge.

In fact, when the post office returns social insurance books directly to employees, it also encounters many difficulties, especially for employees in foreign-invested enterprises, because these units do not have trust and are afraid of affecting the company's security and safety when post office staff approach employees in the company to return social insurance books.

Some specific units often have workers working in remote locations such as the transport and irrigation sectors, so coordination with units and workers in book review work encounters many difficulties, slowing down the handover progress.

Mr. Le Viet Thuc - Deputy Director of the Provincial Social Insurance said that to overcome difficulties and remove obstacles, the Provincial Social Insurance has proposed many drastic and thorough solutions. Accordingly, for books with many problems such as incorrect titles, salaries, working time but no original records..., the Social Insurance of districts is required to concentrate records, report to the Provincial Social Insurance for inspection, from which there will be a plan to advise.

For business units that do not cooperate with the Social Insurance agency to conduct the review, the Social Insurance industry will coordinate with the Labor Federation, the Post Office and specialized managers to directly work with the business leaders to ensure the rights of employees.

Along with that, the provincial Social Insurance sector will actively promote propaganda and explain the content of the work of reviewing and returning books, coordinate directly with units and employees to conduct on-site reviews; establish working groups to go directly to units to remove obstacles...

Phuoc Anh