Are contract teachers considered public employees in Vietnam?

Are contract teachers considered public employees in Vietnam?

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 2 of the 2010 Law on Public Employees:

Public Employee

A public employee is a Vietnamese citizen recruited according to job positions, working at a public service provider under labor contract policies, receiving salaries from the salary fund of the public service provider in accordance with the law.

Based on Article 9 of the 2010 Law on Public Employees (amended by Clause 1, Article 2 of the 2019 amended Law on Officials, and Law on Public Employees), public service providers are stipulatedas follows:

Public Service Provider and Management Structure of Public Service Provider

1. A public service provider is an organization established by a competent State authority, political organization, or socio-political organization as prescribed by law, with legal personality, providing public services, and serving state management.

2. Public service providers include:

a) Public service providers granted full autonomy in task execution, finance, organizational apparatus, and personnel (hereinafter referred to as fully autonomous public service providers);

b) Public service providers not granted full autonomy in task execution, finance, organizational apparatus, and personnel (hereinafter referred to as public service providers not granted full autonomy).

3. The Government of Vietnam specifies the criteria for classifying public service providers stated in Clause 2 of this Article for each public sector; the conversion of public service providers to enterprise models, except for public service providers in the health and education sectors; management policies for public service providers based on principles of streamlining and efficiency.

4. Based on specific conditions and management requirements for each type of public service provider in each sector, the Government of Vietnam stipulates the establishment, functional structure, tasks, and powers of the Management Council in public service providers, and the relationship between the Management Council and the head of the public service provider.

Only teachers working at public service providers under labor contracts are considered public employees.

Conversely, for teachers working under labor contracts with public service providers (commonly referred to as contract teachers), the labor relationship will be between the employee and the employer. This labor relationship is governed by the 2019 Labor Code and does not fall under the provisions of the 2010 Law on Public Employees.

Therefore, contract teachers are employees, not public employees or officials.

Are contract teachers considered public employees in Vietnam?​ (Image from the Internet)

Do contract teachers in Vietnam receive salaries based on the statutory pay rate?

As mentioned above, contract teachers are those who sign labor contracts with schools (including both public and private schools), receiving a salary as agreed between the teacher and the educational institution but not lower than the regional minimum wage.

The salary of contract teachers is not calculated based on the statutory pay rate but follows the regional minimum wage rate, which will increase according to the new regional minimum wage when the contract teachers and the school agree to increase the salary according to the regional minimum wage.

To be specific:

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree 74/2024/ND-CP, the new regional minimum wage from July 1, 2024, for employees will increase, ranging from 200,000 to 280,000 VND/month:

What are regulations on applying the minimum wage for teachers from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 4 of Decree 74/2024/ND-CP, the application of the minimum wage for teachers from July 1, 2024, is as follows:

- The monthly minimum wage is the lowest wage level used as a basis for negotiating and paying salaries to employees in general and to teachers in particular, applying the monthly wage payment form, ensuring the wage level for the work or position of the teacher working the full normal working hours in a month and completing the labor norm or agreed-upon work is not lower than the monthly minimum wage.

- The hourly minimum wage is the lowest wage level used as a basis for negotiating and paying salaries to teachers applying the hourly wage payment form, ensuring the wage level for the work or position of the teacher working in an hour and completing the labor norm or agreed-upon work is not lower than the hourly minimum wage.

- For teachers applying the weekly or daily wage payment form or other forms, the wage of these forms will be converted to monthly or hourly wages not lower than the monthly or hourly minimum wage. The converted monthly or hourly wage is based on the normal working hours chosen by the employer in accordance with labor law provisions.