Are contract teachers entitled to 3 months of unpaid personal leave in Vietnam?

Are contract teachers entitled to 3 months of unpaid personal leave in Vietnam?

Article 115 of the 2019 Labor Code stipulates personal leave and unpaid leave as follows:

1. An employee is entitled to take a fully paid personal leave in the following circumstances, as long as it is notified to the employer in advance:

a) Marriage: 03 days;

b) Marriage of his/her biological child or adopted child: 01 day;

c) Death of his/her biological or adoptive parent; death of his/her spouse’s biological or adoptive parent; death of spouse, biological or adopted child: 03 days.

2. An employee is entitled to take 01 day of unpaid leave and must inform the employer in the case of the death of his/her grandparent or biological sibling; marriage of his/her parent or natural sibling.

3. The employee may negotiate with his/her employer on taking unpaid leave other than the leave stipulated in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article.

Thus, currently there are no specific regulations on how many months an employee is allowed to take unpaid leave. Unpaid leave will depend on the agreement between the employee and the employer in Vietnam. 

In your case, you should notify your school and reach an agreement. If the school feels your reason is legitimate, the school will approve 3 months of unpaid leave according to your wishes in Vietnam.

Are contract teachers entitled to 3 months of unpaid personal leave in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

Are payroll teachers allowed to take 3 months of unpaid personal leave in Vietnam?

According to Article 13 of the Law on Public Employees 2010, rights of public employees to rest are stipulated as follows:

1. To take annual leaves, holidays and leaves for personal reasons under the labor law. Public employees who do not use any or all of prescribed annual leave days due to work requirements are entitled to a sum of money for those days on which they work.

2. Public employees working in mountainous, border, island, deep-lying and remote areas and in other special cases may take leave days of 2 years at a time if they so wish. If wishing to take leave days of 3 years at a time, they shall obtain consent of the heads of their public non-business units.

3. For special non-business fields, public employees may take paid leaves as provided by law.

4. To lake unpaid leaves for plausible reasons and after obtaining consent of the heads of their public non-business units.

Therefore, according to regulations in Vietnam, if a public employee wants to take unpaid leave, he or she must have a legitimate reason and be approved by the head of the public service unit.

In short, payroll teachers are also considered public employees, so unpaid leave must have a legitimate reason and the consent of the school head. The school will consider whether the teacher's reason is legitimate or not. Unpaid leave within 3 months will depend on the agreement between the teacher and the school in Vietnam.

What rights do contract teachers have in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 5 of the 2019 Labor Code, employees have the following rights:

1. An employee has the rights to:

a) work; freely choose an occupation, workplace or occupation; participate in basic and advanced occupational training; develop professional skills; suffer no discrimination, forced labor and sexual harassment in the workplace;

b) receive a salary commensurate with his/her occupational skills on the basis of an agreement with the employer; be provided with personal protective equipment and work in an occupationally safe and healthy environment; take statutory sick leaves, annual paid leaves and receive collective welfare benefits;

c) establish, join an representative organization of employees, occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law; request and participate in dialogues with the employer, implementation of democracy regulations and collective bargaining with the employer; receive consultancy at the workplace to protect his/her legitimate rights and interests; participate in management activities according to the employer’s regulations;

d) refuse to work if he/she finds that the work directly threatens his/her life or health;

dd) unilaterally terminate the employment contract;

e) go on strike;

g) exercise other rights prescribed by law.

According to this Article, teachers working under contract will have the rights mentioned above in Vietnam.

Best regards!