SSS: When An Employee Threatens To Sue An Employeer

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When I was still working as an instructor in one of the language schools in Cebu, I didn’t really care much of my Social Security System (SSS) contributions.  Each time I received my pay slip during pay days, I just checked how much was being deducted.  Before I quit in 2012, I took a salary loan to make sure my contributions were really paid and updated.  I was happy to have my loan approved.  It  means that my company has been faithfully reporting to SSS.

 

In 2013 I started to work as a General Manager.  I didn’t know that there were different due dates of contributions (10th, 15th, 20th, 25th or last day of the month) depending on the number of employees.  I just found out it through the explanation of our bookkeeper and lawyer.

 

However, I couldn’t blame why they reacted like that.  It’s their money so they deserved an explanation.

 

 

One day in 2014, I received a complaint from two of our employees.  Upon checking online, they found out that their monthly contributions didn’t appear on the record.  Then the rumors started circulating that our company didn’t pay and maybe just kept the contributions inside the pocket of our bosses.  I heard that our company would be sued if we couldn’t fix it.  One employee even argued with me straight on the face.  However, I couldn’t blame why they reacted like that.  It’s their money, so they deserved an explanation.  At the back of my mind I was confident and calm that I could handle the situation.  The company has monthly receipts as proof of payment.   To ease the tension, I instructed our bookkeeper to meet our employees and gave them an explanation.   

Based from her explanation, the payment and reporting were paid on time.   However because of SSS system upgrade, the contributions were not uploaded and updated.  That’s the reason why the employees couldn’t see the updates online.  After a few weeks, I received feedback from the employees that they finally saw their contributions on their record.  I was relieved to hear it.   Due to that experience, I reminded our bookkeeper many times to always update the employees’ record every month.  I didn’t want the same problem over and over again.

 

Lesson Learned and Tips:

 

It’s advisable for employees to register an account to SSS website so they can check anytime if their employer really paid their contributions and made a regular update.

To the employers, their responsibility doesn’t end after paying the contributions on time but also to make sure that their bookkeeper/accountant has been making a monthly reporting to SSS office.  By the time an employee takes a loan or makes an update on line, there’s no delay or misunderstanding between employee and employer.

 

As for me as a General Manager with no experience at that time, I learned the hard way but it was a new wisdom for me.

 

To be continued regarding my own personal concern with SSS Salary loan and monthly contributions...