In an effort to help people and workers overcome difficulties and ensure social stabilization, the Government promulgated Resolution No. 42/NQ-CP dated April 9th 2020 (“Resolution 42”). Based on the Principles and Assistance Policies stated in Resolution 42, on April 24th, 2020, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 15/2020/QD-TTg regulating the implementation of policies on assistance for people affected by COVID-19 pandemic (“Decision 15”), which stimulated on eligibility, documents and procedures applied to different groups of workers, namely:
1. For workers whose Labor contracts are suspended and those who have to take unpaid leave:
Employees will be eligible for assistance if the following conditions are fully satisfied:
i. The duration of contract suspension or unpaid leave during the effective period of the Labor contract is at least 01 consecutive month during the period from April 1st to June 30th, 2020 and the suspension or unpaid leave begins from April 1st to June 1st, 2020.
ii. He/she is participating in social insurance before the beginning date of suspension or unpaid leave.
iii. The enterprise for which he/she is working is not able to make any revenue or does not have sufficient funds to pay wages (after the backup wage fund, post-tax profits and other lawful sources have been used up according to the records on March 31st, 2020) due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
When having employees in this group, enterprises must:
i. make a list of employees meeting all three (03) conditions mentioned above, together with relevant documents (according to Application Form No. 01 in the Appendix enclosed with Decision 15);
ii. request an internal trade union (if any) and the social insurance agency to verify the list. Within 03 working days from the receipt of the list, the social insurance agency shall confirm and send enterprises a confirmation of the workers’ participation in social insurance;
iii. submit the application to the district-level People’s Committee where the enterprise is headquartered. Within 03 working days from the receipt of the application, the District-level People’s Committee shall verify and submit the application to the President of Provincial People’s Committee. Within 02 working days, the President of Provincial People’s Committee shall decide whether or not to issue a decision to approve the list of eligible workers as well as funding for assistance and supervise the provision of assistance in reality.
2. For workers whose Labor contracts, Working contracts are terminated without unemployment allowance
Conditions for workers to receive financial support when terminated Labor contracts and Working contracts but not eligible for unemployment allowance include:
- i. He/she has entered into a Labor contract or Working contract before April 1st, 2020 and is participating in compulsory social insurance;
- ii. The Labor contract or Working contract is terminated during the period from April 1st to June 15th, 2020 and the worker is not eligible for unemployment benefit according to Article 49 Law on Employment 2013, specifically:
- Labor contract or working contract with indefinite-term or definite-term: Having paid unemployment insurance premiums for at least full 12 months within 24 months before terminating the labor contract or working contract; Seasonal or work-specific Labor contract that has a term of between full 03 months and under 12 months: Having paid unemployment insurance premiums for at least full 12 months within 36 months before terminating the Labor contract;
- Having submitted a dossier for receipt of unemployment allowance to an employment service center;
- Having not yet found any job after 15 days from the date of submission of the dossier for receipt of unemployment allowance (except the special cases such as attending a training course of full 12 months or longer; performing the military or public security obligation; goes abroad for settlement or as guest worker…)
iii. The worker does not have any income or has an income that is lower than the near-poverty standard which is VND 1,000,000/person/month and VND 1,300,000/person/month in rural and urban areas respectively (prescribed in Article 1 Decision No.59/2015/QD-TTg date November 19th, 2015 of the Prime Minister promulgating multidimensional poverty levels applicable during 2016-2020).
Documentation and procedures are as below:
i. Workers submit Request for Assistance (Application Form No. 03 at the Appendix enclosed with Decision 15), and other relevant documents to the Communal People’s Committee;
ii. The Communal People’s Committee shall verify and confirm the workers’ income; compile a list of eligible workers and submit it to the District-level People’s Committee;
iii. Within 02 working days, the District-level People’s Committee shall verify the list and submit it to the Provincial People’s Committee;
iv. Within 03 working days, the President of Provincial People’s Committee shall approve the list as well as the funding for assistance and supervise the provision of assistance in reality. In case assistance is not approved, the President of Provincial People’s Committee shall issue a written notice with explanations.
3. For employees without Labor contracts and having lost their jobs
An unemployed worker who does not have a Labor contract will be eligible for assistance if satisfying all the following conditions:
i. He/she is laid off and has an income lower than the near-poverty standard which is VND 1,000,000/person/month and VND 1,300,000/person/month in rural and urban areas respectively, for the period of 03 months from April 1st to June 30th, 2020;
ii. He/she has lawful residence;
iii. He/she is doing one of the following non-agriculture jobs: street vendors and hawkers; waste and/or scrap collectors; carriers (porters); bike taxi and pedicab drivers; street lottery ticket sellers; self-employed workers or employees of household businesses in food and drink, lodging, healthcare industries.
Based on actual situations, the Provincial People’s Committees will consider the inclusion of workers eligible for assistance funded by provincial government budgets and other lawful sources. Specifically, street lottery ticket sellers shall be funded by lawful funds of lottery companies and recorded as an expense as instructed by the Ministry of Finance.
The procedures for employees to receive support are as follows:
i. Completing and submitting the Request for Assistance (Application Form No. 04 at the Appendix enclosed with Decision 15), to the Communal People’s Committee after the 15th every month. An eligible beneficiary who has a permanent residence in one province and temporary residence in another may claim assistance in the province of permanent address and obtain a confirmation of Communal People’s Committee that he/she has not claimed assistance in the latter province and vice versa;
ii. Within 05 working days, the Communal People’s Committee shall compile a list of eligible beneficiaries under supervision of representatives of socio-political organizations and communities in a transparent manner; publish the list within 02 working days and submit it to the District-level People’s Committee;
iii. Within 02 working days, the District-level People’s Committee shall verify the list and submit it to the Provincial People’s Committee.
iv. Within 03 working days, the President of Provincial People’s Committee shall approve the list as well as the funding for assistance and supervise the provision of assistance in reality. In case assistance is not approved, the President of the Provincial People’s Committee shall issue a written notice with an explanation.
4. Especially, Employers are also having financial support under Resolution 42
Based on the Assistance Policies in Resolution 42, employers are allowed to borrow capital from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (“VBSP”) (an unsecured loan that is worth up to 50% of total region-based minimum wages of suspended employees over the suspension period, but not exceeding 3 months, at an interest rate of 0%, with a loan term of up to 12 months) to provide suspension pay for workers if employers satisfy the following conditions:
i. At least 20% of the workers or at least 30 workers who have social insurance are suspended for at least 01 consecutive month;
ii. At least 50% of the suspension pay has been provided for such workers during the period from April 1st to June 30th, 2020;
iii. The employer is facing financial hardship and thus does not have sufficient funds to provide the suspension pay after using up the backup wage fund;
iv. The employer does not have bad debts at credit institutions and foreign bank branches by December 31st, 2019.
Accordingly, the procedures are as follows:
i. No later than the 5th day of each month, the employer that wishes to obtain the loan shall submit the application (the application form provided in the Appendix hereof, including Form 12 – List of employees stopped working due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and related documents) to the District-level People’s Committee where the branch, representative office, business location or residence (for household business and individual business) is located;
ii. Within 03 working days from the receipt of the valid application, the District-level People’s Committee shall verify the application, compile a list of eligible borrowers, and submit it to the Provincial People’s Committee;
iii. Within 02 working days from the receipt of the list, the President of the Provincial People’s Committee shall approve the list and send a notice to branches of VBSP and the employers on the list. In case assistance is not approved, the President of the Provincial People’s Committee shall issue a written notice with explanation;
iv. Within 03 working days from the receipt of the valid loan application, as instructed by VBSP and the written approval of the President of the Provincial People’s Committee, VBSP shall approve the loan. In case the application is rejected, send a notice to the employers with explanations. Loans shall be disbursed by VBSP until the end of July 31st, 2020.
Note: In case an employer (borrower) fails to repay the loan when it is due, a late payment interest rate of 12% per year will be charged by VBSP on the outstanding debt.