Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khanh (Da Nang) asked the authorities to guide the procedures for complaints, denunciations, and lawsuits initiating against employers who fail to fulfill their responsibility to close and issue social insurance books for employees.

Enterprises are responsible for completing confirmation procedures and returning social insurance books and other papers

Regarding this issue, The Social Insurance Department of Da Nang City replied as follows:

Clause 5, Article 21 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 stipulates: “Employers are responsible for coordinating with social insurance agencies in returning the 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”.

On the other hand, Clause 3, Article 47 of the Labor Code 2012 stipulates the responsibilities of employers in case of terminating labor contracts as follows: “The employer has responsibility for completing the confirmation procedure and returning the social insurance book and other papers of the employee which are kept by the employer”.

According to the legal regulations, if you terminated your labor contract in accordance with the law, but the company did not return the social insurance book to you, it is against the law.

Article 15, Decree No. 24/2018/ND-CP stipulates the authority to handle complaints related to labor, and occupational safety and hygiene as follows:

“- Employers shall have the power to handle complaints for the first time with regard to complaints against their decisions on or acts of labor, occupational safety and hygiene.

- Chief Inspector of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of the province where the employer’s head office is located shall have the power to handle complaints related to labor, occupational safety and hygiene for the second time in case the complainant disagrees with the first-time handling decision as regulated in Article 23 or over the time limit prescribed in Article 20, the complaint remains unhandled”.

Thus, Mr. Khanh needs to contact the company to request the company to return the social insurance book to him in accordance with the law. In case the company does not return the social insurance book, he has the right to file a complaint requesting the company to handle it. If the company still does not solve it, it is recommended that he needs to send the written complaint to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs for intervention in resolving.

In addition, based on Article 32 of the Code of Civil Procedure 2015, which provides for labor disputes falling under the courts’ jurisdiction, in this case, he can also directly initiate a lawsuit at the court of the district where the company is headquartered to handle under the provisions of law.