Can employees close their social insurance books at the social insurance agency themselves after resigning their job in Vietnam?

Can employees close their social insurance books at the social insurance agency themselves after resigning their job in Vietnam?

According to Point a, Clause 3, Article 48 of the 2019 Labor Code, it is stipulated as follows:

Responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract

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3. The employer has the responsibility to:

a) Complete the procedures for verification of duration of participation in social insurance and unemployment insurance, return them and original copies of the employee’s other documents (if any);

b) Provide copies of the documents relevant to the employee’s work if requested by the employee. The employer shall pay the cost of copying and sending the documents.

According to Clause 5, Article 21 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance also recognizes responsibilities of employers to coordinate closing social insurance books as follows:

Responsibilities of employers

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5. To coordinate with social insurance agencies in returning social insurance books to and certifying periods of social insurance premium payment for employees who terminate labor contracts or working contracts or cease working in accordance with law.

...

From the above bases, it can be seen that closing the social insurance book is the responsibility of the employer and is carried out in coordination with the social insurance agency in Vietnam.

Therefore, employees cannot close their social insurance books themselves at the social insurance agency after resigning their job in Vietnam.

Can employees close their social insurance books at the social insurance agency themselves after resigning their job in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

How long does it take for an employee to resign their job before they can close their social insurance books in Vietnam?

In Clause 1, Article 48 of the 2019 Labor Code, there are provisions as follows:

Responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract

1. Within 14 working days following the termination of an employment contract, both parties shall settle all payments in respect of the rights and interests of each party. In the following cases, such period may be extended, but shall not exceed 30 days:

a) Shutdown of business operation of the employer that is not a natural person;

b) Changes in the organizational structure, technology or changes due to economic reasons;

c) Full division, partial division, consolidation, merger of the enterprise; sale, lease, conversion of the enterprise; transfer of the right to ownership or right to enjoyment of assets of the enterprise or cooperative;

d) Natural disasters, fire, hostility or major epidemics.

2. Priority shall be given to payment of the employees’ salaries, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, severance allowance and other benefits under the collective bargaining agreement and employment contracts in case of shutdown, dissolution or bankruptcy of an enterprise or cooperative.

...

According to this Article, when the employee resigns his job, he can immediately close his insurance book. Currently, labor law stipulates that within 14 working days from the time the employee quits his job, the employer must complete the procedures for closing the social insurance book in Vietnam.

However, in the following 4 cases, the company can extend the time to close the social insurance book but must not exceed 30 days in Vietnam:

- The employer is not an individual terminating operations;

- The employer changes structure, technology or for economic reasons;

- Division, separation, consolidation, merger; selling, leasing, converting business types; transfer of ownership and rights to use assets of enterprises and cooperatives;

- Due to natural disasters, fires, enemy attacks or dangerous epidemics.

What is penalty for an enterprise that does not close the social insurance book for employees who resign in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 48 of the 2019 Labor Code, responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract are prescribed as follows:

Responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract

...

3. The employer has the responsibility to:

a) Complete the procedures for verification of duration of participation in social insurance and unemployment insurance, return them and original copies of the employee’s other documents (if any);

b) Provide copies of the documents relevant to the employee’s work if requested by the employee. The employer shall pay the cost of copying and sending the documents.

Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, even if the employee quits temporarily or is understood as illegally unilaterally terminating the labor contract, the employee can still close the social insurance book because this is the employer's obligation when terminate the labor contract.

In Clause 2, Article 12, Decree 12/2022/ND-CP stipulates as follows:

Violations against regulations on modification, revision and termination of employment contracts

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2. The following fines shall be imposed upon an employer for commission of one of the following violations: Changing the term of an employment contract using its annex; failing to comply with regulations on time limits for settling all payments in respect of the rights and interests of employees when terminating the employment contracts; failing to pay or insufficiently paying severance allowances to employees in accordance with regulations of law; failing to pay or insufficiently paying redundancy allowances to employees in accordance with regulations of law; failing to make or insufficiently making the prescribed payments to employees when unilaterally terminating their employment contracts in breach of law; failing to complete procedures for certification of duration of participation in social insurance and unemployment insurance, and return the certification and original copies of other documents to employees after terminating their employment contracts in accordance with regulations of law; failing to provide copies of the documents relevant to the employee’s working period if requested by the employee after terminating his/her employment contract:

a) A fine ranging from VND 1.000.000 to VND 2.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 01 - 10 employees;

b) A fine ranging from VND 2.000.000 to VND 5.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 11 - 50 employees;

c) A fine ranging from VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 51 - 100 employees;

d) A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 15.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 101 - 300 employees;

dd) A fine ranging from VND 15.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 301 employees or more.

Thus, businesses that do not close social insurance books for employees who take temporary leave may be fined from 1,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND.

In addition, forcing the enterprise to complete the confirmation procedure and return other documents kept by the employee to the employee for the act of not completing the procedure for confirming the period of social insurance and unemployment insurance payment and return it along with the original documents kept by the employee after terminating the labor contract.

Note: The fines prescribed for violations of the above regulations are fines for individuals. The fine for organizations with the same violation is 2,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND (Clause 1, Article 6, Decree 12/2022/ND-CP)

Best regards!