Monday, December 15, 2014

The regulations on occupational accident and disease in Vietnam

Under the Law on Social Insurance, the regime of compulsory social insurance and health insurance covers occupational accident and disease and when the employer pays the compulsory social insurance and health insurance for the employees, the employee will be entitled to the regime of occupational accident and disease.
The employer who is subject to the regime of compulsory social insurance, must pay the social insurance for its’ employee and in the case the employee is suffered occupational accident and disease, the social insurance fund will be responsible for payment of the medical expenses in accordance with the laws on the health insurance. Under the current Law on Social Insurance, the regime of health insurance covers occupational accident and disease and the employees participating in compulsory social insurance are entitled to enjoy this regime.
However, according to the Labor Code 2012, the employers must also take the responsibility for the employee suffering occupational accident and disease. The employers must pay for the medical expenses, the salary during the time the employee suffering occupational accident and disease and even compensate such employee if the occupational accident and disease is not caused by the fault of that employee and result in the employee’s ability to work being reduced by 5 % or more. 
In the worst case, the employers must pay at least 30 months' salary pursuant to the labor contract to any employee whose ability to work has been reduced by 81% or more, or to the relatives of an employee who dies as a result of a work-related accident.
In details, under Article 144 of the Labor Code, the employers are obliged to:
i.              To pay the share of expenses payable by the insurer and the expenses not included in the list of expenses payable by medical insurance in the case of an employee covered by medical insurance and pay all medical expenses incurred from the time of first aid or emergency up until treatment has stabilized in the case of an employee not covered by health insurance.
ii.            To pay full wages pursuant to the labor contract to any employee suffering the occupational accident and disease and who must take leave during a treatment period.
iii.           To pay compensation to the employee suffering the occupational accident and disease in accordance with the Labor Code.

In practice, some employers may provide the benefit to it’s employee by purchasing the insurance with unlimited responsibility from a insurance service provider. This is considered as a good benefit and may help the employer to limit its’ financial risk when its’ employee suffering an occupational accident and disease.


But, as above mentioned about the responsibility of the employer for the employee suffering occupational accident and disease, purchasing the insurance from the service provider cannot exempt the employer from such responsibilities since under the Labor Code, the employer must take the final responsibility. Maybe the employer may request an insurance package from the service provider that if the employer has to pay and compensate it's employees with an amount and then the service provider will re-pay that amount to the employer. It is considered as a separate insurance package for the employer.