Are Vietnamese officials and public employees allowed to take on additional jobs outside to increase their income?
Are Vietnamese officials allowed to take on additional jobs outside to increase their income?
According to Section 4, Chapter II of the Law on Officials 2008 regarding the prohibitions for officials, officials are not allowed to perform the following acts:
- Related to public service ethics:
+ Evading responsibility, shirking assigned tasks; factionalizing, causing disunity; quitting work without permission or participating in strikes.
+ Illegally using state and people's assets.
+ Taking advantage of, abusing tasks and powers; using information related to public service for personal gain.
+ Discriminating based on ethnicity, gender, social status, belief, religion in any form.
- Related to state secrets:
+ Not disclosing information related to state secrets in any form.
+ Officials working in sectors or professions related to state secrets, within at least 5 years from the date of retirement or job termination, are not allowed to engage in work related to the sector or profession they previously held for domestic or foreign organizations, individuals, or joint ventures.
- Other activities:
+ Not engaging in activities related to production, business, and personnel work as regulated in the Law on Anti-Corruption, the Law on Practicing Thrift, Combating Waste, and other activities as specified by law and competent authorities.
Thus, it can be seen that the current law does not prohibit officials from taking additional jobs to earn extra income.
However, any additional job must comply with legal regulations and must not violate the prohibitions mentioned above.
Additionally, according to Subsection c, Section 3 of Directive 26/CT-TTg, 2016, officials are not allowed to use working hours for personal work.
Are Vietnamese officials and public employees allowed to take on additional jobs outside to increase their income?
Are Vietnamese public employees allowed to take on additional jobs outside?
According to Article 19 of the Law on Public Employees 2010 regarding the prohibited acts for public employees:
Prohibited acts for public employees
1. Evading responsibility, shirking work or assigned tasks; factionalizing, causing disunity; quitting work without permission; participating in strikes.
2. Illegally using assets of the agency, organization, unit, and of the people.
3. Discriminating based on ethnicity, gender, social status, belief, religion in any form.
4. Taking advantage of professional activities to propagate against the policies of the Communist Party and the laws of the State or causing harm to the traditional values, cultural life, and spirit of the people and society.
5. Insulting the honor, dignity, reputation of others while performing professional activities.
6. Other acts prohibited for public employees as specified by the Law on Anti-Corruption, the Law on Practicing Thrift, Combating Waste, and other relevant legal regulations.
Additionally, Clause 2, Article 20 and Clause 4, Article 20 of the Law on Anti-Corruption 2018 mention the following:
Code of conduct for office holders
...
2. Office holders in state organizations are prohibited from:
a) Harassment during task performance;
b) Establishing, participating in administration of sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, partnerships and cooperatives, unless otherwise prescribed by law;
c) Providing information about state secrets, business secrets or other secrets about their tasks or any task in which they participate for other domestic and foreign organizations and individuals;
d) Establishing, holding managerial or executive positions in sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, partnerships and cooperatives in the field that was under their management according to regulations of the Government;
dd) Illegally using information of their organizations;
e) Other actions that office holders must not do according to the Law on officials and public employees, the Law on Enterprises and relevant laws.
...
4. The heads and deputies of state organizations must not contribute capital to enterprises operating in the same field as that of their organizations, and must not allow their spouses, parents or children to do business in the same field as that of their organizations.
According to the above regulations, state public employees are also not prohibited from taking additional jobs to increase their income.
However, public employees must ensure that the additional job does not violate the aforementioned regulations and other related regulations for state public employees.
How many disciplinary measures against Vietnamese officials and public employees are there?
For public employees, Article 15 of Decree 112/2020/ND-CP stipulates disciplinary measures as follows:
- Applicable to public employees not holding managerial positions:
+ Reprimand.
+ Warning.
+ Removal from office.
- Applicable to public employees in managerial positions:
+ Reprimand.
+ Warning.
+ Dismissal.
+ Removal from office.
A public employee disciplined by any of the measures specified in this Article may also be restricted from performing professional activities according to relevant legal regulations.
For officials, Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 7 of Decree 112/2020/ND-CP stipulate disciplinary measures for officials as follows:
- Applicable to officials not holding leading or managerial positions:
+ Reprimand.
+ Warning.
+ Salary reduction.
+ Removal from office.
- Applicable to officials in leading or managerial positions:
+ Reprimand.
+ Warning.
+ Demotion.
+ Dismissal.
+ Removal from office.
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