What Can Employees Do When the Company Does Not Pay Wages on Time?

Lawyer Thai Thi Phuong, YouMe Law Firm Limited Liability Company answers:

Article 24 of Decree 05/2015/ND-CP provides detailed regulations and guidance on several aspects of the Labor Code 2012 (Decree 05/2015/ND-CP) regarding the principles of wage payment as follows:

1. Employees shall be paid directly, fully, and on time.

2. In special cases due to natural disasters, fire, or other force majeure reasons that the employer has sought all remedies but still cannot pay wages on time as agreed in the labor contract, the payment delay shall not exceed 1 month. The employer must pay additional compensation to the employee for late payment as follows:

a) If the wage payment is delayed for less than 15 days, no additional payment is required;

b) If the wage payment is delayed for 15 days or more, the employer must pay an additional amount at least equal to the late payment amount multiplied by the highest savings interest rate for one-month deposits announced by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time of payment.

When the State Bank of Vietnam does not specify an interest rate cap, it will be calculated based on the one-month term deposit interest rate of the commercial bank where the enterprise or agency has an account at the time of payment.

Point b, Clause 1, Article 37 of the Labor Code 2012 stipulates the rights of employees working under a fixed-term labor contract to unilaterally terminate the labor contract before its term as follows:

1.b) The employee is not paid fully or on time as agreed in the labor contract.

Point a, Clause 2, Article 37 of the Labor Code 2012 specifies the notice period employees must give to the employer before unilaterally terminating the labor contract as prescribed in point b, clause 1, article 37 of the Labor Code as follows:

2. a) At least 3 working days for cases where the employee is not paid fully or not on time as agreed in the labor contract.

Thus, if the company frequently delays wage payments, you may exercise the right to unilaterally terminate the labor contract as cited regulations.

According to Labor Newspaper

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