Benefits that employees participating in social insurance who have Covid-19 are entitled to

In this case, employees will enjoy full social insurance benefits if they meet the required conditions and documents. Specifically as follows:

Sick leave:

- About conditions:According to Article 25 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees who are sick or have to take time off work to take care of sick children under 7 years old with confirmation from a competent medical facility will be entitled to sick leave. This regime is currently applied to pay for employees who are sick.infected with Covid-19and take time off work to take care of a child under 7 years old with Covid-19.

- About the benefit profile:According to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, the Minister of Health prescribes the form, procedures, and authority to issue certificates of leave for social insurance, hospital discharge papers, and other documents as a basis for social insurance benefits. The Ministry of Health has issued Official Dispatches No. 1492/KCB-PHCN&GĐ dated November 19, 2021, Official Dispatch No. 238/BYT-KCB dated January 14, 2022, accordingly, the sick leave benefit application for sick employees is implemented according to the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2, Article 100 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014; Clauses 1 and 2, Article 21 of Circular No. 56/2017/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health. Specifically, the application for benefits (for employees who are F0 or taking care of children under 7 years old who are F0) includes the following documents:

+ For F0 workers receiving inpatient treatment:Discharge papers.

+ For F0 workers receiving outpatient treatment:Certificate of leave from work to enjoy social insurance or Hospital discharge certificate with instructions from the treating doctor for additional leave after inpatient treatment.

- About the time of enjoyment:According to Circular No. 56/2017/TT-BYT, each time a patient is examined, they are issued a Certificate of Leave from Work to Enjoy Social Insurance for a maximum of 30 days. In case F0 needs to take a leave longer than 30 days, when the leave period stated on the Certificate of Leave from Work to Enjoy Social Insurance has expired or is about to expire, the F0 must undergo a re-examination for the practitioner to consider and decide.

- About the level of enjoyment: Clause 1, Article 28 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that during the leave, employees will receive 75% of the salary for social insurance contribution of the month immediately preceding the leave.

There must be a notice sign in front of a house where someone is in quarantine. Photo courtesy of TH

- About the application processing process:

+ To enjoy sick leave benefits after being cured of Covid-19, employees need to submit to the employer a copy of the Hospital Discharge Certificate (for inpatient treatment); Certificate of leave to enjoy social insurance or Hospital Discharge Certificate with instructions from the treating physician for additional leave after the treatment period (for outpatient treatment) within 45 days from the date of returning to work so that the employer can complete the documents and send them to the Social Insurance agency.

+ The Social Insurance Agency will resolve the benefits for employees within a maximum of 6 working days from the date of receiving complete documents as prescribed.

+ Employees can receive money through one of the following forms: Through personal accounts or through the employer.

Convalescence and recovery regimen after illness

- Pursuant to Article 29 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, after treatment for other diseases or Covid-19, if an employee has taken sick leave for a sufficient period of time in a year as prescribed, but within 30 days of returning to work, the employee's health has not yet recovered, he/she is entitled to take a leave to recuperate and restore his/her health. The time for taking a leave to recuperate and restore his/her health in this case will be decided by the employer and the Executive Committee of the grassroots Trade Union, but not exceeding 10 days for employees whose health has not yet recovered after a period of illness due to a disease requiring long-term treatment; Maximum 07 days for employees whose health has not yet recovered after a period of illness due to surgery; Equal to 05 days for other cases.

- The amount of money received during the convalescence period is 30% of the basic salary, which is 447,000 VND/day.

Given the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of people with Covid-19 being treated at home has increased, while Circular No. 56/2017/TT-BYT mentioned above has not yet provided regulations on the issuance of records and documents as a basis for social insurance benefits for F0s being treated at home, at treatment facilities, on-site facilities... as well as employees who have to take time off work to take care of children under 7 years old who are F0s being treated at home. Vietnam Social Security has promptly issued the following Official Dispatches: No. 1638/BHXH-CSXH dated June 11, 2021; No. 2321/BHXH-CSXH dated August 3, 2021; No. 2793/BHXH-CSXH dated September 6, 2021, No. 2989/BHXH-CSXH dated September 24, 2021 and No. 10/BHXH-CSXH dated January 5, 2022 reported and proposed to the Ministry of Health about this situation.

Online class time because teachers are quarantined during the epidemic. Photo courtesy of MH

Recently, on January 14, 2022, the Ministry of Health issued Official Dispatch No. 238/BYT-KCB at Point 2 and Point 3 stating: “Currently, the Legal Documents do not have regulations on using other documents to replace the certificate of leave to receive social insurance benefits. At the same time, there are no regulations accepting documents issued not in accordance with the provisions of law as still valid for the Social Insurance agency to use as a basis for deciding on social insurance benefits for employees. The Ministry of Health is researching and proposing contents that are not yet regulated in the Legal Documents to report and propose to the Government or the National Assembly Standing Committee to issue a Resolution to resolve the above issues”.

With the motto of ensuring the best benefits for participants, the Vietnam Social Security sector is always ready to fully and promptly resolve social insurance regimes for employees infected with Covid-19 with qualified records according to the provisions of law. In case employees infected with Covid-19 have difficulty in providing documents as a basis for resolving social insurance regimes, they should contact the local health agency for instructions./.

PV