The social insurance book is the employee’s legal asset, recording their entire contribution history. Yet many employers keep workers’ books for centralised administration, and when an employee leaves, returning the book drags on together with unfinished book-closure procedures. This article clarifies who has the right to hold the book, what the employer must do at termination, and on what grounds the employee can sue to recover it.
The SI book belongs to the employee
Under the Social Insurance Law, the employee is the person issued the social insurance book and has the right to manage their own book; contribution history is now also recorded electronically through the insurance agency’s application. The employer may borrow the book while the employee still works to carry out registration and information adjustments with the agency, but must return it when the employment relationship ends. Keeping the book without grounds after the employee has left infringes the employee’s own right to manage it.
The practical harm of a withheld book is not the paper booklet but the procedures attached to it: without the book and confirmed contribution history, the employee struggles to file for unemployment benefits within the short window after leaving, to continue contributions at a new workplace, and to reconcile or complain about wrongly recorded contribution periods. Because the unemployment benefit filing window is counted in months from contract termination, every week of withholding can turn into real cash loss for the employee.
The employer’s book-closure duty at termination
Alongside returning the book sits the closure duty: when a labour contract ends, the employer must coordinate with the social insurance agency to confirm the employee’s social and unemployment insurance contribution time and return the confirmed book. If the employer still owes insurance money, closure must still be performed for the periods already paid, and the debt is settled separately between the employer and the agency — it may not be used as a reason to keep a departed employee’s book.
In practice, many employers batch the closure work for all leavers in a period into one end-of-quarter round, leaving departed employees waiting indefinitely. That practice breaches the duty of timely closure and is grounds for the insurance agency and labour inspectorate to intervene. A well-run HR process attaches book closure to the same final-settlement checklist at exit, with internal deadlines counted in days, not quarters.
How the employee recovers the book and claims damages
The practical sequence escalates in three steps. Step one, a written demand to the employer stating the request to return the book and complete closure within a specific period, sent by a method that proves delivery. Step two, a complaint to the social insurance agency where the employer is registered and to the labour inspectorate, asking for intervention; most cases resolve at this step because the agency has direct tools over the employing unit. Step three, a court claim for return of the book, completion of contribution confirmation, and damages where actual loss from the withholding is proven — typically unemployment benefits lost because the filing deadline passed.
For the employer, keeping an employee’s social insurance book is also an administratively sanctionable act in the social insurance field under the current sanctions decree, besides being ordered to return the book and complete closure. An employer should never treat book withholding as leverage in any dispute with a departed employee — from asset handover disputes to training-cost reimbursement — because the tool is unlawful from the outset and worsens the employer’s position in the underlying dispute itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
May a company keep an employee’s social insurance book?
While the employee works, the company may borrow the book for insurance procedures with the agency, but the book is under the employee’s own management right. At contract termination the company must confirm contribution time and return the book. Keeping it after the employee has left has no legal basis and draws administrative sanctions in the social insurance field.
If the company still owes SI, can the book be closed for a leaver?
Yes, and it must be closed for the periods paid. The employer coordinates with the agency to confirm social and unemployment insurance time up to the paid point and returns the book; the employer’s debt is handled separately with the agency and cannot justify keeping a departed employee’s book.
How can lost unemployment benefits caused by a withheld book be claimed?
The employee gathers evidence of the loss: the missed unemployment filing deadline, the written demand sent to the company, and the agency’s confirmation of the book’s status. After complaining to the insurance agency and labour inspectorate, the employee may sue for return of the book, completion of closure, and proven actual damages in court.
Where can employees check their own SI contribution history?
Contribution history is recorded in the social insurance book and in the agency’s electronic system through the e-book application with the employee’s personal account. If a period is missing or wrong, the employee requests the employer and the agency to adjust it; periodic checking also surfaces cases where the employer deducted wages but never contributed.
Practical recommendations
For employers, book closure and return belong on the same exit-day checklist as the final salary payment, with an owner and a deadline. For employees, ask for the closed book back at exit and reconcile the contribution history on the electronic system within the first week — a withheld book or missing closure discovered then is always resolved far faster than one discovered later through a rejected benefit claim.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council