The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has dragged 4,310 employers to court for defaulting on SSNIT payments of employees and other offences since June 2019.

These employers either failed to register their businesses or employees, or failed to submit contribution reports or employers’ records.

Also, some of these employers failed to pay contributions and associated penalties as at the end of the first half of the year.

The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang who was speaking at a breakfast meeting with some employers on Friday in Accra, reminded them that failure to pay the Social Security of their employees constituted a crime.

Photo: Director-General of SSNIT Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang

He said SSNIT did not take delight in prosecuting employers, "but accrued debts must be collected.”

"If we fail to collect these debts, it does not absolve us of our responsibilities and obligations to the worker," Dr Ofori-Tenkorang stressed.

He said SSNIT understood that businesses "go through hard times and that is why we engage employers who might, for one reason or the other delay in complying."

"So when employers default and we show up with that demand notice, there is a 30-day grace period within which you can pay up or negotiate mutually beneficial terms of the settlement.

"However, we are sometimes compelled to take legal action against recalcitrant employers because as I said, the law places an obligation on us to pay benefits to workers and/or their dependents," he said.