The Social Insurance Department has calculated the interest rate on the social insurance contributions for the people participating in social insurance under Ms. Van's company from the date of suspension of payment of social insurance. Ms. Van asked, is that the right policy of the Government?

Hanoi Social Insurance responded to this question as follows:

Article 16 of Decree No. 115/2015/ND-CP dated 11/11/2015 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on compulsory social insurance, providing for the temporary suspension of payment of compulsory social insurance in Article 88 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 as follows:

"1. Cases of temporary suspension of payment to the retirement and survivorship fund:

a) Suspend production and business for 1 month or more due to difficulties when changing structure or technology or due to economic crisis or recession or implementation of State policies when restructuring the economy, or fulfill international commitments;

b) Facing difficulties due to natural disasters, fires, epidemics, crop failure.

2. Conditions for suspending payment to the retirement and survivorship fund:

An employer who falls into one of the cases specified in Clause 1 of this Article may suspend payment to the retirement and survivorship fund when one of the following conditions is met:

a) Unable to arrange jobs for employees, in which the number of employees participating in social insurance must temporarily quit at least 50% of the total number of employees present before suspending production and business;

b) Loss of more than 50% of the total value of property due to natural disasters, fires, epidemics, crop failures (excluding the value of the property's land).

3. Period of suspension of payment to the retirement and survivorship fund:

a) The period of suspension of payment to the retirement and survivorship fund is monthly and must not exceed 12 months. During the temporary suspension of contributions to the retirement and survivorship fund, the employer still pays to the sickness and maternity fund, the labor accident and occupational disease fund. Employers and employees who are eligible for retirement and survivorship benefits or termination of labor contracts shall pay compensation for the period of temporary suspension of payment to settle benefits for employees during the temporary closing period.

b) At the end of the period of temporary suspension of payment as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the employer and the employee shall continue to pay social insurance premiums and make compensation for the period of suspension of payment which prescribed in Clause 3, Article 122 of the Law on Social Insurance.

According to Decision No. 33/2021/QD-TTg dated November 6, 2021 of the Prime Minister amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decision No. 23/2021/QD-TTg on the implementation of a number of policies which support workers and employers facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic:

Employers who have fully paid social insurance premiums or are temporarily suspending contributions to the retirement and survivorship fund until the end of January 2021 but are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a reduction from 10% or more of the number of employees participating in social insurance at the time of application submission compared to January 2021.

The period of temporary suspension of contributions to the Pension and Survivorship Fund due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is 6 months from the month the employer submits the application.

For the case that has been resolved to suspend payment to the retirement and survivorship fund according to Resolution No. 42/NQ-CP dated April 9, 2020 and Resolution No. 154/NQ-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government. Government, if the conditions are met and the payment is temporarily suspended to the retirement and survivorship fund according to the provisions of Decision No. 23/2021/QD-TTg, the total period of suspension of payment to the retirement and survivorship fund due to a disability affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for no more than 12 months.