Hanoi (VNA) –🦩 Politburo member and Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) President Nguyen Thien Nhan has asked for more stringent punishments for companies dodging social insurance premiums for workers as the evasion is now at an alarming rate.

He requested drastic actions be made by Vietnam Social Insurance, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), and relevant agencies, while officiating at a meeting in Hanoi on March 23. The event was to review their coordination in monitoring businesses’ adherence to legal regulations on social insurance. In 2015, a joint delegation of the VFF Central Committee, the Government Inspectorate, the MoLISA and the VGCL inspected 16 enterprises in the provinces of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Dong Thap and An Giang. Fifteen companies were found to pay social insurance premiums at least one month late, but seven of the 16 businesses did not sufficiently register and pay social, health and unemployment insurance premiums for their employees. The 16 firms owed a combined premium sum of over 31 billion VND (nearly 1.39 million USD), a report at the meeting revealed. The total social insurance premium debt in the six provinces amounted to 433.5 billion VND (almost 19.4 million USD). The inspection showed that while only 40 percent of the operational companies register to buy social insurance for their workers, 44.9 percent of them owe premiums. That means only 40 out of every 100 operational businesses register to pay social insurance premiums, and up to 18 of these companies make late or insufficient premium payments. The social insurance coverage in the surveyed provinces averaged 13 percent of the local workforce, or 6.9 percent of the local population. The figures are far below the targets set in the Politburo’s Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW dated November 22, 2012, on enhancing the Party’s leadership over social and health insurance work between 2012 and 2020. The resolution aims at 50 percent of the workforce covered by social insurance, 35 percent covered by unemployment insurance and 80 percent covered by health insurance by 2020. At the meeting, VFF President Nhan said the data on enterprises neglecting to buy social insurance shows it is at an alarming rate. He required urgent measures to be made to promote firms’ sense of responsibility towards their employees. Competent agencies can sue violating companies once they collect sufficient evidence of infringements, he added. In 2016, inspection will be focused on big industrial hubs like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Ha Tinh, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, he noted, asking the VGCL and local authorities to strengthen supervision to protect labourers’ benefits.-VNA