Why were more than 300 teachers in Nam Dan asked to collect nearly 4.6 billion VND in insurance money?

On March 15, 2025, the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district said that the unit had just sent a report to the Department of Education and Training about the difficulties in resolving the regime for employees at educational institutions in the district. This move took place after hundreds of teachers in this district suddenly received a notice of collection of a total of nearly 4.6 billion VND from the Social Insurance, of which the fine for late payment of insurance was more than 2.6 billion VND.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district, in the past, in Nam Dan district, there were a number of cases that were transferred to raise salary levels according to Official Dispatch No. 3434 of the Provincial People's Committee but the difference has not been fully paid.(social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance)when reclassified

Specifically, in 2024, at a number of school units, 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 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 Social Insurance conducted a review and comparison to settle the regime for the subjects and discovered that these cases were transferred to salary classification according to Official Dispatch 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 have not yet paid the difference.((social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance)when reclassified

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

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thai Huyen - 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, she requested the District People's Committee to give instructions to the Department of Home Affairs to coordinate with relevant departments, branches and sectors to advise the District People's Committee to direct Nam Dan 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 who re-ranked their salary according to Official Dispatch 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.

According to the reporter's investigation, 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, Department of Education and Training, 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 Nam Dan Social Insurance issued a notice to schools in the area where teachers had received such salary increases to collect insurance money that they were surprised. Among the 311 teachers who were asked to collect, the one with the highest debt was more than 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 as prescribed, the amount would not have been significant. Until 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 collect.

Regarding this incident, a leader of Nam Dan 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 special due to the lack 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 units must go directly to the financial and social insurance agencies to receive funds to resolve the social insurance regime for these workers. In 2011, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district 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 resolve the issue, and at the same time required employees to complete the paperwork and send it to the district Social Insurance for resolution, but the school did not do so./.