Labour Inspection, Work Permit & Draft Law On Social Insurance (Amended): How To “Liberate” The Burden For Business And Ensure Employees’ Rights?

Updates on social insurance: Notes for HR and employees

In the online seminar, most questions revolved around whether individuals who have number of years of Social Insurance contribution is 20 years but have yet to reach retirement age can withdraw lump-sum social insurance payments. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thanh – Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance, said that employees cannot withdraw except in two cases: settling abroad permanently or suffering from one of the severe diseases as defined by the Ministry of Health. He advised this group of employees to consider continuing to join Social Insurance for better retirement benefits. 

Additionally, he encouraged workers to register for the VssID digital insurance application proactively. This app is exclusively for workers to monitor their Social Insurance, unemployment insurance, medical information, and other benefits. 

For businesses, Mr. Thanh noted some changing cases in the draft of the Social Insurance Law that affect HR management, including contributing to Social Insurance for not-full-time workers. 

According to Mr. Thanh, the Social Insurance payment of these worker groups will be based on the agreement in the labor contract between the two parties. However, this payment must be at least the minimum level set by the Government. Therefore, when making labor contracts, HR departments need to pay attention to the type of labor to choose appropriate Social Insurance payment levels, complying with the changes in the draft law. Regarding other changes, he affirmed that the draft law does not have much impact, and businesses should continue to implement and use electronic systems as before. 

Work permits for foreigners

Besides the draft of the Social Insurance Law (amended), businesses are also concerned about issuing Work Permits for foreigners. According to Decree 70/2023/NĐ-CP, some related documents need to be submitted to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs for processing, requiring businesses to allocate resources to handle procedures in Ha Noi. 

The new process has caused leaders to worry about increased administrative procedures in document processing. Ms. Tran Le Thanh Truc – Head of Labor and Occupational Safety Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said: “Currently, there are three ways for businesses to submit and process documents: in person, by mail, or online through the Public Service Portal. Regardless of the method, Ms. Truc recommends that businesses proactively make plans to ensure the process is handled within the deadline.”

Additionally, Decree 70/2023 has abolished the requirement that the educational/training level of foreign workers must be relevant to the job they are expected to do in Vietnam. For example, expert positions no longer require a university degree, which is appropriate for the job the foreign worker will do in Vietnam. This change is highly positive and is greatly welcomed by the business community, helping businesses “overcome difficulties” in the process of recruiting foreign workers. 

Regarding the application for work permits for particular positions, such as senior personnel assigned by the head company abroad to work in Vietnam or legal representatives of Vietnamese companies, they still have to follow the process of announcing the recruitment of Vietnamese employees first. Ms. Truc shared that she has noted this issue from businesses and has made proposals to central ministries and agencies to continue resolving issues related to managing foreign workers. 

Mr. Andree Mangels – Deputy CEO, Head of Growth – Vietnam And International Market​, Talentnet Corporation – Total HR solutions, shared: “Recently, there has been a situation where workers are worried about their pension benefits being affected by the draft amendment to the Social Insurance Law, leading to an increasing trend of early retirement requests. Besides, the increasing emergence of new forms of labor, such as part-time, freelance, and international experts… also greatly affects HR management. These changes require businesses to be more careful when resolving and managing labor in their units to ensure legal compliance.” 

This is also the main purpose of the webinar, organized by Talentnet, to help businesses understand how to manage domestic and foreign labor effectively.

In addition to seminars related to labor law and government regulations, Talentnet – a leading HR consulting company – organizes many large-scale events, providing businesses with helpful information about the labor market and HR management.

A tailor-made event for business & HR leaders​!

For example, The Makeover is the largest annual event that is “tailored” specifically for the business and HR community. In 2024, The Makeover returns grandly with the participation of more than 20 world-class speakers and the most trending topics on the workforce, new solutions for “Green Growth” strategies, and opening new perspectives on “Sustainable Development” in Human Resource Management.