How Many Employees Must an Enterprise Have to Sign a Collective Labor Agreement?
Article 73 of the 2012 Labor Code stipulates collective labor agreements as follows:
- A collective labor agreement is a written agreement between the collective labor and the employer regarding the labor conditions that both parties have achieved through collective bargaining.
- Collective labor agreements include enterprise collective labor agreements, sectoral collective labor agreements, and other forms of collective labor agreements as stipulated by the Government of Vietnam.
In Article 6 of this Code, the rights and obligations of employers are also stipulated as follows:
- Employers have the right to conclude collective labor agreements;
- Employers are obliged to implement collective labor agreements.
The establishment of collective labor agreements is the right of the employer. If a collective labor agreement is established, the employer is obliged to implement that agreement. Furthermore, the Labor Code does not directly mandate the establishment of collective labor agreements.
Additionally, Clause 1 Article 15 of Decree 28/2020/ND-CP provides for the handling of violations regarding collective labor agreements as follows:
A fine from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND for employers who commit one of the following acts:
- Failing to send the collective labor agreement to the state management agency as prescribed;
- Failing to cover the cost of bargaining, signing, amending, supplementing, sending, and publishing the collective labor agreement;
- Failing to publish the contents of the signed collective labor agreement for employees to know.
In case of establishing a collective labor agreement without sending it to the state management agency as prescribed or not publishing the contents of the agreement will be subject to penalties.
Thus, from the above grounds, the signing of a collective labor agreement is not mandatory. Your enterprise can sign a collective labor agreement regardless of the number of employees.
Sincerely!
