Responsibilities of employers in case of labor accident?

According to the provisions of Article 38 of the Law on Labor Safety and Health 2015 of Vietnam, employers must have the following responsibilities:

"Article 38. Responsibilities of employers for employees suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases

Employers are responsible for employees suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases as follows:

1. Promptly provide first aid and first aid to employees suffering from labor accidents and must advance first aid and first aid and treatment costs for employees suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases;

2. To pay medical expenses from first aid or emergency to stable treatment for persons suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases as follows:

a) To pay the co-paying expenses and expenses not included in the list paid by the social health insurance for employees participating in social health insurance;

b) To pay the examination fee for working capacity decrease for cases where the working capacity decrease is less than 5% due to the employer's referral of employees for examination and assessment of working capacity decrease at the medical examination council;

c) To pay all medical expenses for employees not participating in social health insurance;

3. To pay fully salaries to employees suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases who have to leave their jobs during the period of treatment and labor rehabilitation;

4. To compensate employees suffering from labor accidents which are not entirely caused by their own faults and for employees suffering from occupational diseases at the following rates:

a) At least 1.5 months' salary if the working capacity is reduced by between 5% and 10%; then for every 1% increase, 0.4 months' salary is added if the working capacity is reduced by between 11% and 80%;

b) At least 30 months' salary for employees with working capacity decrease of 81% or more or for relatives of employees who die due to labor accidents or occupational diseases;

5. The allowance for employees suffering from labor accidents caused by their own fault is at least 40% of the amount specified in Clause 4 of this Article with corresponding working capacity decrease;

6. To introduce workers suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases to medical examination to determine the degree of working capacity decrease, to receive treatment, nursing and labor rehabilitation in accordance with law;

7. To make compensation and allowance for persons suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases within 5 days after the conclusion of the Medical Assessment Council on the level of working capacity decrease or after the publication of the minutes of the labor accident investigation for fatal labor accidents;

8. To arrange work suitable to health according to the conclusions of the Medical Assessment Council for employees suffering from labor accidents or occupational diseases after treatment and rehabilitation if they continue to work;

9. To make dossiers for enjoying work-injured or occupational disease benefits from the Work-injured or occupational disease insurance fund according to the provisions of Section 3 of this Chapter;”

Thus, in addition to the responsibilities such as timely first aid, first aid for employees suffering from labor accidents as well as making records for employees to enjoy work-injured benefits, occupational diseases from the State Insurance Fund of Vietnam, employers must also pay for labor medical expenses, salary, compensation...

However, in fact, many employers deliberately fail to pay the above amounts in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

So can there be cases where laborers can sue and win?

Reference is made to the following judgments:

1. Judgment on compensation for damage caused by labor accidents No. 01/2018/LĐ-ST

Case content: Mr. Duong Tien M is an employee of Truong Phat Company. On October 18, 2015, while cleaning the cleaning around the work area, Mr. M cleaned the sawdust poured into the furnace but saw the fire in the furnace, which caused Mr. M to be severely burned, was taken to the emergency room at Bao Yen Hospital and Lao Cai General Hospital for 14 days of treatment. After being discharged from the hospital, Mr. M's parents went to the company's leader to request compensation but the company only supported VND 10,000,000, Mr. M did not agree with the compensation level so he initiated a lawsuit to the court to settle the request that the company must compensate the amount of VND 230,598,224 ( including reasonable costs for repairing, fostering and restoring health of VND 42,098,224; the actual income lost from October 2015 to February 2017 is 16 months; the cost of caregivers is VND 32,000,000; compensation for mental losses of VND 60,500,000).

Settlement result: The People's Court of Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province pronounced the charge against Truong Phat Company. The legal representative Mr. Nguyen Ngoc T must compensate Mr. Duong Tien M for the amount of 88,183,224 VND.

2. Judgment No. 01/2021/LĐ-PT dated September 23, 2021 on the dispute on compensation for damage caused by labor accidents

Content of the case: Mr. Nguyen Thanh G is the natural child of Mr. S, Mrs. L who does not have a wife and children. Mr. G is a worker of Tan Ngoc L Company who has worked for 27 days, during the probation period, on April 16, 2018, Mr. G worked at the Company, he was electrocuted from the roof of the factory to the ground and died on April 19, 2018 at Cho Ray Hospital, but the Company presented at the hospital, Mr. G died from a traffic accident. The company has compensated Mr. and Mrs. in the amount of VND 58,000,000, but the cost of medical treatment for Mr. G at the hospital, funeral expenses, and grave construction in the amount of VND 93,000,000 in total. While the family took care of the funeral, they were extremely confused, so they did not ask the seller to write down papers, so there was not enough evidence to submit to the court. Mr. S, Mrs. L requests the Company to be obliged to determine the fact that the cause of death of Mr. G is due to electric shock or labor accident and to compensate for the amount of VND 01 billion in terms of life and mental losses in accordance with the law.

Settlement result: The Court pronounced partial acceptance of the lawsuit claim of Mr. S and Mrs. L, forcing Tan Ngoc L Company to continue to compensate S and Mrs. L for the amount of 183,800,000 VND.

3. Judgment No. 22/2017/LĐ-PT dated September 22, 2017 on the dispute on compensation for work-injured allowance

Case content: Before working for Company D, Mr. M had suffered a work accident with a working capacity decrease rate of 31% and was entitled to a monthly work accident allowance of VND 460,000. In 2012, Mr. M went to work at Company D and had a second labor accident. On November 28, 2012, the Medical Assessment Council of Dong Nai Province issued the Minutes of the General Labor Assessment No. 08/BB-GDYK on the assessment of the degree of impairment of Mr. M's general labor capacity is 52% permanent. However, from that time until now, Company D did not make a written request for settlement of the work-injured regime for Mr. M, so it caused damage to Mr. M monthly who was not entitled to a new allowance of VND 392,717, from December 2012 to April 2017, which is 52 months. Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 43 of the Social Insurance Law in 2006, Mr. M files a lawsuit requesting Company D to pay compensation for work-injured allowance of VND 20,421,000, 

Settlement result: Accept Mr. Vu Van M's lawsuit claim, force Company D to pay compensation for work-injured by the end of April 2017 to Mr. Vu Van M in the amount of VND 20,421,550.

Key word: Responsibilities of the Employer in Vietnam | Workers in Vietnam who have had an occupational accident | occupational accident in Vietnam | compensation in Vietnam | Law on Occupational Health and Safety 2015 of Vietnam | vietnam Labor Law |

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