Does the employee who is temporarily suspended from work receive a salary? What is the fine for violation related to the work suspension of employees in Vietnam?
Does the employee who is temporarily suspended from work receive a salary?
Currently, Vietnam's labor law does not specify what is temporarily suspending work for employees.
However, it can be understood that the work suspension is the fact that the employer realizes that allowing the employee to work will make it difficult for the investigation, so forcing employees to temporarily stop working to investigate and verify complicated violations of labor regulations in which such employees are involved.
At the same time, according to Clause 4, Article 128 of the 2019 Labor Code of Vietnam stipulating work suspension as follows:
Work suspension in Vietnam
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4. Where the employee is not disciplined, the employer shall pay the full salary for the work suspension period.
According to Article 65 of Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP guiding the Labor Code on working conditions and labor relations, working time as the basis for calculation of annual leave is stipulated as follows:
Periods included in working time as the basis for calculation of annual leave
1. Vocational training and apprenticeship period prescribed in Article 61 of the Labor Code if the employee works for the employer after the end of the vocational training or apprenticeship period.
2. Probation period if the employee keeps working for the employer after the end of the probation period.
3. Personal leave prescribed in Clause 1 Article 115 of the Labor Code.
4. Unpaid leave if accepted by the employer and not exceeding 01 month per year totally.
5. Leave taken due to occupational accidents or diseases if not exceeding 6 months totally.
6. Sick leave if not exceeding 02 months per year totally.
7. Maternal leave prescribed by social insurance laws.
8. Period of performance of duties of the internal employee representative organization that is included in working time as prescribed by law.
9. Work suspension and leave through no fault of the employee.
10. Suspension period after which the employee is exonerated or exempt from disciplinary actions.
Thus, in case the employee is temporarily suspended from work to investigate and verify the violation and determine that it is not the employee's fault, the employee is still entitled to full salary for the days of suspension.
In addition, this number of days off will also be included in working time as the basis for calculation of annual leave.
Does the employee who is temporarily suspended from work receive a salary? What is the fine for violation related to the work suspension of employees in Vietnam?
In addition to salary, what other payments do employees who are suspended from work enjoy?
Pursuant to Clauses 2 and 3, Article 128 of the 2019 Labor Code of Vietnam providing for work suspension as follows:
Work suspension in Vietnam
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2. The work suspension shall not exceed 15 days, or 90 days in special circumstances. During the suspension, the employee shall receive an advance of 50% of his/her salary entitled prior to the suspension.
Upon the expiry of the work suspension period, the employer shall reinstate the employee.
3. Where the employee is disciplined, he/she shall not be required to return the advanced salary.
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Thus, in addition to the salary, during the suspension, the employee shall receive an advance of 50% of his/her salary entitled prior to the suspension.
Where the employee is disciplined, he/she shall not be required to return the advanced salary.
Example: A receives a decision on work suspension for 10 days. In these 10 days there is 1 day off. Actual number of working days suspended is 9 days.
Then A gets an advance of 50% of 9 days' salary (ie 4.5 days' salary). If:
- A is disciplined, he or she does not have to return the 4.5 days of advance salary.
- A is not disciplined, A will not have to return the 4.5 days of advance salary, and the company will pay the remaining 4.5 days of salary.
What is the fine for violation related to the work suspension of employees in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Clauses 2 and 5, Article 17 of Decree No. 12/2022/ND-CP stipulating as follows:
Violations against regulations on salaries
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2. The following fines shall be imposed upon an employer for commission of one of the following violations: Failing to pay salaries on schedule as prescribed by law; failing to pay or insufficiently paying salaries to employees as agreed in their employment contracts; failing to make or insufficiently making overtime pay; failing to make or insufficiently making nightshift pay; failing to pay or insufficiently paying work suspension allowances as prescribed by law; restricting or interfering employees’ spending of their salaries; forcing employees to spend their salaries on goods or services of the employer or any particular providers decided by the employer; deducting from employees’ salaries in breach of law; failing to pay or insufficiently paying salaries to employees how are reassigned to perform works which are not specified in their employment contracts or during a strike; failing to make or insufficiently making payments to employees who, due to employment termination or job loss, have not taken or not entirely taken up their annual leave in compensation for their untaken leave days; failing to make or insufficiently making advance payments to employees who temporarily leave their works in accordance with regulations of law; failing to pay full salaries to employees who are not disciplined for their work suspension period:
a) A fine ranging from VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 01 - 10 employees;
b) A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 11 - 50 employees;
c) A fine ranging from VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 51 - 100 employees;
d) A fine ranging from VND 30.000.000 to VND 40.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 101 - 300 employees;
dd) A fine ranging from VND 40.000.000 to VND 50.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 301 employees or more.
3. The following fines shall be imposed upon an employer for paying their employees salaries which are lower than the statutory minimum wages announced by the Government:
a) A fine ranging from VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 01 - 10 employees;
b) A fine ranging from VND 30.000.000 to VND 50.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 11 - 50 employees;
c) A fine ranging from VND 50.000.000 to VND 75.000.000 shall be imposed if the violation involves 51 employees or more.
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5. Remedial measures
a) The employer that commits the violation specified in Clause 2 or Clause 3 of this Article is compelled to pay full salaries plus interests on late payments or insufficient payments of salary, which are calculated at the highest rate of the demand deposit interest rates publicly quoted by state-owned commercial banks on the date of penalty imposition, to employees.
Thus, if the employer fails to advance the employee's salary or fails to pay the salary for the days the employee is temporarily suspended from work, if it can be proven that the employee has not committed any violation, he or she may be fined as low as 5,000,000 VND and as high as 75,000,000 VND.
In addition, the employer is compelled to pay full salaries plus interests on late payments or insufficient payments of salary, which are calculated at the highest rate of the demand deposit interest rates publicly quoted by state-owned commercial banks on the date of penalty imposition, to employees.
Note: Fines for the above violations are imposed upon individuals. In case the organization commits similar violations, the fines are twice as much as that incurred by an individual for the same administrative violation.
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