Most secretaries not covered by social security insurance — SSC

AMMAN — Only 13 per cent of some 15,000 female secretaries working in medical clinics and private offices are covered by social security insurance, the Social Security Corporation (SSC) said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a brainstorming session with sector stakeholders, SSC Director General Nadia Rawabdeh said only 1,230 of 9,600 medical and dental clinics provide social security insurance for their employees.

Furthermore, only 145 of 4,000 legal offices cover their employees with social security insurance, she said, noting that employers who fail to provide insurance prevent their staff from exercising their legal and humanitarian rights. 

“We call on private doctors, lawyers, dentists, owners of engineering firms and other small businesses to end social security insurance evasions, as subscribing employees to the social security system indicates their abidance by the law and their commitment to social responsibilities,” Rawabdeh added.

Insurance evasion can take several forms, she said, such as failing to subscribe any workers, subscribing only some employees or forcing workers to pay the full contribution to the SSC. 

Other employers commit fraud by failing to declare employees’ real salaries, and subscribing them to social security under lower wages than their actual pay. 

The SSC will start conducting field visits to businesses hiring secretaries across Jordan, Rawabdeh said, calling on employers to cooperate with inspectors. 

According to the official, SSC insurance provides the employee with a sense of security, which triggers higher work productivity.

Unemployment rates among women reach 23.7 per cent, compared to 12.7 per cent among males, mainly due to the lack of supportive work environments for women, including the failure to provide social security, according to the SSC.

There are only 312,000 active female SSC subscribers, forming 26 per cent of 1.183 million subscribers.

Of the 118,000 retirees receiving SSC pensions, only 29,000 are women, constituting 15 per cent. 

Sector representatives agreed that there is a problem regarding the failure to include secretaries in social security insurance. 

Social security evasion is only one of many violations against workers’ rights, said Ahmad Shawabkeh from the General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions.

Many businesses require their employees to work long hours for the minimum wage, which is JD190 monthly, Shawbkeh said, adding that this practice is a form of “forced labour”. 

Ahmad Awad, director of the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, agreed, adding that social security insurance also provides security for the employer, for example in cases of work injuries. 

Meanwhile, Walid Adwan, a member of the Jordan Bar Association council, said all law firms should include their employees under the social security umbrella.