Vietnam: Where can employees complain about the company's year-end non-payment? Can employees sue the company for non-payment at the end of the year?
How long is the maximum employee salary owed in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 94 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, it provides as follows:
Article 94. Salary payment rules
1. Employers shall directly, fully and punctually pay salaries to their employees. In the cases where an employee is not able to directly receive his/her salary, the employer may pay it through a person legally authorized by the employee.
2. Employers must not restrict or interfere their employees’ spending of their salaries; must not force their employees to spend their salaries on goods or services of the employers or any particular providers decided by the employers.
Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 97 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam stipulates as follows:
Article 97. Salary payment time
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4. In case of a force majeure event in which the employer is unable to pay the employee on schedule after all remedial measures have been implemented, the salary shall be paid within 30 days. In case a salary is paid at least 15 days behind schedule, the employer shall pay the employee a compensation that is worth at least the interest on the amount paid behind schedule at the latest 1-month interest rate quoted by the bank at which the employee’s salary account is opened.
According to the above two regulations, the employee must pay the full salary on time to the employee, but if due to force majeure reasons, the employer has sought all remedies but cannot pay the salary on time, it must not be delayed more than 30 days.
Vietnam: Where can employees complain about the company's year-end non-payment? Can employees sue the company for non-payment at the end of the year?
Where can employees complain about the company's year-end non-payment in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 15 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP stipulating as follows:
Article 15. Authority to handle complaints related to labour, and occupational safety and hygiene
1. Employers shall have the power to handle complaints for the first time with regard to complaints against their decisions on or acts of labour or occupational safety and hygiene.
2. Chief Inspector of Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of province where the employer’s head office is located shall have the power to handle complaints related to labour or occupational safety and hygiene for the second time in case the complainant disagrees with the first-time complaint handling decision as regulated in Article 23 or over the time limit prescribed in Article 20, the complaint remains unhandled.
3. Authority to handle complaints about occupational accident investigation shall follow provisions set forth in Article 17 of the Government’s Decree No. 39/2016/ND-CP dated May 15, 2016.
According to the above provisions, employees can complain about the company's non-payment of year-end salary as follows:
- First-time complaint to employer
- If the employee does notdeal with it or does not deal with it appropriately, you can complain to the Chief Labor Inspector of the Department of Labor and Social Invalids of the province you work in.
Can employees sue the company for non-payment at the end of the year in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP stipulating as follows:
Article 5. Procedures for filing a complaint
1. An individual is entitled to file a complaint to the officer who has the power to conduct first-time complaint handling as regulated in Clause 1 Article 15, Clause 1 Article 16, Clause 1 Article 17 and Clause 1 Article 18 hereof or file a lawsuit in the court as regulated in Point a Clause 2 Article 10 hereof if there are grounds for presuming that decisions or acts of an employer, a vocational education institution, an enterprise or organization providing Vietnamese guest worker programs, an employment service provider or an organization involved in creating employment for workers, or an organization organizing examination and issuance of national-level vocational certificates, are unlawful or infringe his/her legitimate rights and interests .
Referring to Point a, Clause 2, Article 10 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP stipulates as follows:
Article 10. Rights and duties of complainants
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2. Right to file lawsuits in Court
a) The complainant is entitled to file a lawsuit in the Court in accordance with regulations of the Code of civil procedures in the following circumstances:
- There are grounds for presuming that the decision or acts of the employer, of the organization or individual participating in vocational education, or of the enterprise or state organization providing Vietnamese guest worker program are unlawful and infringe the complainant’s legitimate rights and interests;
- The complainant does not agree with the first-time complaint handling decision as regulated in Article 23 hereof;
- Over the time limit prescribed in Article 20 hereof, the first-time complaint remains unhandled.
Accordingly, when there are grounds to show that the company does not pay the employee at the end of the year, or does not agree with the decision to settle the complaint for the first time, or has expired the time limit for resolving the complaint for the first time, the employee can sue in Court.
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