In the discussions on the draft Law on Social Insurance Amendments on November 2, two provisions were highlighted:

Article 29 of the draft law only specifies the Social Security Agency's tasks: identifying and managing mandatory participants in social insurance, urging and guiding the establishment of mandatory social insurance registration records, and promoting voluntary participation in social insurance.

Section 5, Article 128 of the draft law stipulates that the central Social Security Agency participates in and coordinates the management of revenues, expenditures, preservation, development, and balance of the Social Insurance Fund.

National Assembly delegate Luong Van Hung (Quang Ngai) emphasized the critical need to address and strongly deal with the issue of delayed and evaded compulsory social insurance payments. It is essential to clearly define the responsibilities and powers of the Social Security Agency in inspecting, auditing, and administratively handling cases of delayed or evaded compulsory social insurance payments.

National Assembly delegate Nguyen Hai Anh (Dong Thap) mentioned that in the previous session, there was a proposal to allocate additional functions and tasks to the social security sector, specifically in conducting specialized audits related to social and health insurance expenditures. However, this specific function wasn't added to the current draft of the amended Social Insurance Law. Meanwhile, the misuse of social and health insurance funds has been a complex issue, with increasingly sophisticated and diverse forms of exploitation occurring recently.

Strong Measures Against Delayed and Evaded Social Insurance Payments; Augmenting Functions for Social Security Agencies and Labor Unions (Illustrated image)

The draft law also does not specify the role and rights of the Trade Union in initiating lawsuits against employers for delayed or evaded compulsory social insurance payments. Therefore, it is proposed to add: the Trade Union has the right to sue employers without requiring authorization from the laborers because the Trade Union is the natural representative organization for workers as stipulated in the Constitution and Trade Union Law.

Regarding Articles 36 and 37, the draft law provides quite specific regulations on acts of delayed or evaded compulsory social insurance payments and sanctions for violations in this regard. However, delegate Luong Van Hung suggested studying the issue regarding individuals who have the obligation to make compulsory social insurance payments but cannot meet the prescribed deadline due to objective obstacles, natural disasters, epidemics, unexpected accidents, and requested not to classify such cases as evaded compulsory social insurance payments.

Specifically, Section 5, Article 37 of the draft law stipulates: employers showing signs of evading social insurance payments shall be recommended for prosecution according to legal regulations by the social security agency. However, delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy pointed out that not only the social security agency should have the right to recommend prosecution because in the Criminal Procedure Code, organizations, during the performance of their functions and tasks, if they detect signs of crime, have the right to propose prosecution. If the draft law only assigns this right to the social security agency, it might be insufficient compared to the Criminal Procedure Code, especially when labor inspections also have the right to recommend. This regulation in the draft law is narrower than the Criminal Procedure Code.

Section 4, Article 37 of the draft law stipulates that employers who evade social insurance payments and have been administratively penalized (yet still do not pay) may be sued by the social security agency. Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy argued that this case should be a criminal case, not a civil lawsuit. According to Article 216 of the Criminal Code, anyone employing fraudulent or other means to evade social insurance payments for over 6 months, who has been administratively penalized but remains non-compliant, must face criminal prosecution. Hence, it's crucial to carefully consider related laws.

National Assembly delegate Tran Thi Dieu Thuy (Ho Chi Minh City) also mentioned that while the Trade Union initiates numerous lawsuits against employers for delayed or evaded social insurance payments, enforcing court decisions is severely limited due to employers' evasion or inability to pay.

She also highlighted the fact that many Trade Union officials receive their salaries from employers. Therefore, when problems arise, laborers have to authorize the district or export processing zone Trade Union to file lawsuits. Therefore, studying regulations to enable higher-level Trade Unions to obtain laborer authorization for lawsuits against violating employers is essential./.