Extension of Employment Contract Duration Permitted?

Lawyer Sa Thi My Hanh, YouMe Law Firm responds:

At Point b, Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 22 of the Labor Code 2012 stipulates the regulations on fixed-term labor contracts and the signing of new labor contracts when the old contract expires as follows:

1. Labor contracts must be entered into under one of the following types:

b) Fixed-term labor contracts;

A fixed-term labor contract is one in which both parties determine the term and the specific time of termination in the contract within a period of 12 months to 36 months.

2. When the labor contract stipulated in Point b, Clause 1 of this Article expires and the employee continues to work, within 30 days from the date the contract expires, both parties must sign a new labor contract; if not, the contract entered into according to Point b, Clause 1 of this Article becomes an indefinite-term labor contract.

In case the two parties sign a new fixed-term labor contract, it can only be signed once more; thereafter, if the employee continues to work, an indefinite-term labor contract must be signed.

At Article 5 of Decree 05/2015/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam detailing and guiding the implementation of certain contents of the Labor Code, the amendment of the term of labor contracts through labor contract appendices is stipulated as follows:

The term of a labor contract can only be modified once through a labor contract appendix and must not change the type of contract that was entered into, except for prolonging the labor contract term with elderly employees and part-time trade union officials during their tenure when the labor contract expires. The labor contract can be extended until the end of the term.

Thus, if you want to extend the term of the labor contract, the modification of the contract term can be carried out through a labor contract appendix.

According to Lao Dong newspaper

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