What should Vietnamese employees do to take longer Lunar New Year holidays but still have their salary fully paid?
How many fully paid days off on Lunar New Year Holidays in 2023 in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 112 of the Labor Code 2019, Employees shall be entitled to fully paid days off on Gregorian Calendar New Year Holiday and Lunar New Year Holidays, specifically as follows:
Public holidays
1. Employees shall be entitled to fully paid days off on the following public holidays:
a) Gregorian Calendar New Year Holiday: 01 day (the 1st of January of the Gregorian calendar);
b) Lunar New Year Holidays: 05 days;
c) Victory Day: 01 day (the 30th of April of the Gregorian calendar);
d) International Labor Day: 01 day (the 1st of May of the Gregorian calendar);
dd) National Day: 02 days (the 2nd of September of the Gregorian calendar and the previous or next day);
e) Hung Kings Commemoration Day: 01 day (the 10th of the third month of the Lunar calendar).
2. Foreign employees in Vietnam are entitled to 01 traditional public holiday and 01 National Day of their country, in addition to the public holidays stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article.
3. The Prime Minister shall decide the specific public holidays mentioned in Point b and Point dd Clause 1 of this Article on an annual basis.
Thus, the employee will receive the full salary as follows:
- Gregorian Calendar New Year Holiday: 01 day (the 1st of January of the Gregorian calendar);
- Lunar New Year Holidays: 05 days (excluding weekly holidays);
However, in case there is a change in the number of paid Tet holidays when the employer gives the employee an extra leave and pays the full salary, the employee will be entitled to an additional salary for that day.
What should Vietnamese employees do to take longer Lunar New Year holidays but still have their salary fully paid?
What should Vietnamese employees do to take longer Lunar New Year holidays but still have their salary fully paid?
Pursuant to Article 113 of the Labor Code 2019, the annual leave days of employees are as follows:
Annual leave
1. Any employee who has been working for an employer for 12 months is entitled to fully-paid annual leave, which is stipulated in his/her employment contract as follows:
a) 12 working days for employees who work in normal working conditions;
b) 14 working days for employees that are minors, the disabled, employees who do laborious, toxic or dangerous works;
c) 16 working days for employees who do highly laborious, toxic or dangerous works.
2. An employee who has been working for an employer for less than 12 months will have a number of paid leave days proportional to the number of working months.
3. An employee who, due to employment termination or job loss, has not taken or not entirely taken up his/her annual leave shall be paid in compensation for the untaken leave days.
4. The employer has the responsibility to regulate the timetable for annual leaves after consultation with the employees and must give prior notice to the employees. An employee may reach an agreement with the employer on taking annual leave in instalments or combining annual leave over a maximum period of up to 03 years.
5. When an employee takes his/her annual leave before salary payment is due, he/she may receive an advance in accordance with Clause 3 Article 101 of this Labor Code.
6. When taking annual leave, should the employee travel by road, rail, water and the travel days, the traveling time in excess to 02 days will be added to the annual leave days, and this policy shall only be granted once for an annual leave in a year.
7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.
Accordingly, any employee who has been working for an employer for 12 months is entitled to 12-16 working days fully-paid annual leave, which is stipulated in his/her employment contract.
An employee who has been working for an employer for less than 12 months will have a number of paid leave days proportional to the number of working months.
In addition, an employee may reach an agreement with the employer on taking annual leave in installments or combining annual leave over a maximum period of up to 03 years.
Thus, in order to have an earlier Tet holiday in the calendar year 2023 and still receive the full salary, employees can use their annual leave.
Is the 2023 Lunar New Year bonus a must for employers in Vietnam?
Up to now, the Vietnamese legal system has not recognized or defined any regulations on whether enterprises or employers must give Tet bonuses to employees.
In Article 104 of the Labor Code 2019, the bonus is as follows:
Bonuses
1. A bonus means an amount of money, a piece of property or item that is provided by an employer for his/her employees on the basis of the business performance or the employees’ performance.
2. A bonus regulation shall be decided and publicly announced at the workplace by the employer after consultation with the representative organization of employees (if any).
Thus, employers are not required to give Tet bonuses to employees.
Employers can base themselves on the situation and results of production and business of the company to decide whether to decide on the regulation of Tet bonus for employees.
Regulations on Tet bonus will be decided by the employer and publicly announced at the workplace after consulting with the representative organization of employees.
In addition, in case the employer decides to give the employee a Tet bonus of 2023, the Tet bonus is not required to be paid in cash.
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