Sickness benefits are one of the policies applicable to employees participating in social insurance in Vietnam to ensure income during the leave period for medical examination and treatment. So, are employees taking leave to care for sick children entitled to sickness benefits?
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Vietnam: Are employees taking leave to care for sick children entitled to sickness benefits? (Illustrative image)
Employees taking leave to care for children under 7 years old are entitled to sickness benefits in Vietnam
According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 25 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees taking leave to care for sick children under 07 years old with a certification from a competent medical facility will be entitled to sickness benefits.
Article 24 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 stipulates that employees are entitled to sickness benefits if they belong to any of the following categories:
- Employees working under indefinite-term employment contracts, definite-term employment contracts, seasonal employment contracts, or specific jobs with a term ranging from 03 months to under 12 months (Note: From January 01, 2021, there will only be 02 types of employment contracts: definite-term and indefinite-term employment contracts according to the Labour Code 2019);
- Employees working under employment contracts with a term of between 01 month and under 03 months;
- Officials and public employees;
- National defense workers, public security workers, and other workers in cryptographic organizations;
- Commissioned officers, professional servicemen of the People's Army; commissioned officers, technical non-commissioned officers, professional non-commissioned officers of the People's Public Security; cipher officers receiving a salary like professional servicemen;
- Managers of enterprises, managers, and executives of cooperatives receiving salaries;
Accordingly, based on the above regulations, in cases where employees belonging to the above categories take leave to care for children under 07 who are sick and have certification from a medical facility, they will be entitled to sickness benefits as stipulated.
Enjoyment time and level of sickness benefits for employees in Vietnam when children are sick
According to Article 27 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 guided by Article 5 of Circular 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH, the time employees are entitled to sickness benefits for each sick child in a year is calculated by the number of days they take care of the child:
- For children under 03 years old, a maximum of 20 working days;
- For children from 03 years old to under 07 years old, a maximum of 15 working days.
Additionally, note the following points:
- The maximum period of sickness benefits for each child in a year is calculated by working days, not counting holidays, Tet holidays, and weekly rest days as prescribed;
- If employees have two or more children under 07 years old who are sick at the same time, the time for sickness benefits is based on the actual time they take leave to care for their children, and the maximum time is calculated as stated above;
- If both parents participate in social insurance, they can alternately take leave to care for their sick child, and the maximum time for each parent is calculated as stated above;
- If both parents participate in compulsory social insurance, both of them can take leave to care for their sick child, and the maximum time is calculated as stated above.
According to Clauses 1 and 4, Article 28 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees taking leave for sick children are entitled to 75% of the monthly salary serving as the basis for social insurance premiums payment of the month immediately preceding the leave-taking month. The sickness benefit per day is calculated by dividing the monthly benefit by 24 days.
Thus, the total amount of sickness benefits that parents can receive each time a child is sick is calculated as follows:
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Note: In cases where employees newly start working or previously had paid social insurance premiums interrupted and take sickness leave in the first month of returning to work, the benefit is 75% of the salary used for social insurance contributions of that month.
Example: Ms. Mai works for Company A with a salary of 12 million VND/month (the social insurance contribution salary). Her 5-year-old child fell sick and required hospital treatment from October 20, 2020. The maximum period Ms. Mai is entitled to sickness benefits for caring for her sick child is 15 days until November 05, 2020, and the benefit amount for Ms. Mai is (75% x 12,000,000)/24 x 15 = 5,625,000 VND.
Ty Na
