NSSF intensifies monitoring of illegal staff

The National Social Security Fund said Monday its crackdown on companies that fail to enroll employees in the fund had improved the financial results of its treasury by LL41 billion ($27.2 million) in 2011. “Monitoring of 6,233 businesses and 46,541 employees, representing 12 percent of total labor force in Lebanon, led to positive financial results of around LL41 billion,” Mohammad Karaki said in a statement. Karaki said that as a result of close scrutiny, 3,978 unregistered employees have now been enrolled to the fund. He added that the enrollments of 201 persons have been revoked because they were illegally benefiting from the NSSF’s resources. While Lebanese law requires companies to register employees at the Fund, it has become common practice for some employers to shirk this responsibility in order to minimize their expenses. It is also common for companies to illegally register individuals as employees in order to allow them to receive the fund’s health care and social benefits. “We will [legally] pursue the repayment of health and social benefits received illegally from the fund,” Karaki said. He said the fund had increased the number of monitored businesses by 16 percent and the number of workers by 60 percent throughout last year. The number of declared employees rose 85 percent, he added. “The positive developments are chiefly due to the filling of a number of vacancies at the monitoring and inspection department, where 83 new inspectors have been hired recently,” he said. Karaki called on workers across the country to demand their employers to register them following 10 days of their employment. “It’s imperative for employees to submit a complaint at NSSF headquarters or to the complaints and objections department at the Bir Hassan building,” he said. He also called on employers to comply with NSSF rules and regulations and to take the initiative to settle the status of their employees so as to avoid punitive action. But despite these measures the NSSF is still operating a severe deficit each year, particularly in the sickness and maternity departments. The fund’s management has proposed raising the NSSF’s subscription in order to eliminate the deficit, but this request was strongly rejected by the private sector. From DailyStar