If the employer does not pay social insurance or underpays it, complain first to force back payment; if you resign for that reason and want economic compensation, the resignation notice must state it is because the employer did not pay social insurance as required by law

If the employer did not enroll you in social insurance or did not pay enough, you can complain and require it to make up the payments, plus late fees. You can also notify the employer in writing that you are ending the contract and claim economic compensation. The notice must state the reason is that the employer did not pay social insurance as required by law; if you write “personal reasons,” you get nothing. An agreement that “the employee voluntarily waives social insurance” does not count.

Cost

No cost. First check your social insurance payment records; screenshot or print and keep them. To force back payment, call 12333 or complain to labor inspection at the human resources and social security bureau. For economic compensation, go to labor arbitration—free, closes within 45 days, extendable by at most 15 days. If you disagree, go to court; ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months, and you pay your own lawyer. The hard part is having another source of income after you resign.

Benefit

The Social Insurance Law requires the employer to declare and pay social insurance on time and in full. Except for statutory grounds such as force majeure, it may not defer or reduce payments. If the employer infringes your social insurance rights, you may ask the social insurance administrative agency or the social insurance contribution collection agency to handle it under the law. If the employer fails to pay on time and in full, the collection agency orders it to make up the shortfall within a deadline and adds a daily late fee of 5/10000 from the day payment was due. If it still does not pay after the deadline, it is fined 1 to 3 times the unpaid amount. Labor security inspection covers whether the employer participates in social insurance and pays contributions. After a case is opened, investigation finishes within 60 working days, extendable by 30 working days for complex cases. The Labor Contract Law provides that if the employer does not pay social insurance for you as required by law, you may terminate the labor contract and the employer must pay economic compensation. If you resign with 30 days’ prior notice on your own, the employer owes no economic compensation. So the notice must state that you are terminating because the employer did not pay social insurance as required by law. A Supreme People's Court judicial interpretation effective September 2025 states that agreements with you not to pay social insurance, or your own promise that payment is unnecessary, are both void. If the employer did not pay social insurance as required by law and you terminate and claim economic compensation on that basis, courts support the claim under the law. If the employer never enrolled you, the social insurance agency cannot make it up, and you lose benefits as a result, you may claim damages from the employer. That is a labor dispute the courts accept (nationwide)

Notes

To force back payment, use the complaint route. Beijing High Court and arbitration commission practice is that a bare claim for back payment is not a labor dispute; go to the labor administration. Do not delay the complaint: if a violation is not discovered and no one complains within 2 years, labor security authorities will not investigate further. For ongoing non-payment, the 2 years run from the day the arrears stop. Whether underpaying the contribution base counts as “not paying as required by law,” and whether that alone supports economic compensation, is not stated by the Supreme People's Court. Beijing lists only two situations: no social insurance account opened in the year before termination, or incomplete coverage of insurance types. There is no nationwide uniform rule on underpaid bases; ask the local arbitration commission first. If the employer previously paid you the social insurance amount in cash and later made up the contributions, it may demand you return that cash. Work injury when work-injury insurance was never paid: Item 13 of this section (no work-injury insurance enrollment). How years count after a lapse: Section 7, Item 18 (lapsed social insurance).

Sources · 6

1. 全国人大常委会 (2010, 2018 修正). 社会保险法（第五十八、六十、六十三、八十二、八十三、八十六条）. gov.cn/guoqing/2021-10/29/content_5647616.htm
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4. 最高人民法院 (2025). 关于审理劳动争议案件适用法律问题的解释（二）（法释〔2025〕12 号，第十九条）. court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/472691.html
5. 北京市高级人民法院、北京市劳动人事争议仲裁委员会 (2024). 关于审理劳动争议案件解答（一）（京高法发〔2024〕534 号，第 1 问、第 71 问、第 72 问）. beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/fygfxwj/202405/t202405…
6. 全国人大常委会 (2007). 劳动争议调解仲裁法（第四十三、五十三条）. rsj.ankang.gov.cn/Content-2150407.html（安康市人力资源和社会保障局转载）；国务院 (2006). 诉讼费用交纳办法（国务院令第 481 号，第六、十三条）. gov.cn/ziliao/flfg/2006-12/29/content_483682.htm