Can female employees leave 30 minutes early in the 7th month of pregnancy in Vietnam?

Can female employees leave 30 minutes early in the 7th month of pregnancy in Vietnam?

I want to ask about the regime for pregnant female employees. May I ask, can female employees who are 7 months pregnant go home 30 minutes early?

Reply:

Article 137 of the Labor Code 2019 provides for maternity protection as follows:

1. An employer must not require a female employee to work at night, work overtime or go on a long distance working trip in the following circumstances:

a) The employee reaches her seventh month of pregnancy; or her sixth month of pregnancy when working in upland, remote, border and island areas;

b) The employee is raising a child under 12 months of age, unless otherwise agreed by her.

2. Whenever an employer is informed of the pregnancy of an female employee who is doing a laborious, toxic or dangerous work, a highly laborious, toxic or dangerous work or any work that might negatively affect her maternity, the employer shall assign her to a less laborious or safer work, or reduce the working hours by 01 hour per day without reducing her salary, rights or benefits until her child reaches 12 months of age.

3. The employer must not dismiss an employee or unilaterally terminate the employment contract with an employee due to his/her marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or nursing a child under 12 months of age, except for cases where the employer that is a natural person dies or is declared incapacitated, missing or dead by the court, or the employer that is not a natural person ceases its business operation, declared by a provincial business registration authority that it does not have a legal representative or a person authorized to perform the legal representative’s rights and obligations.

Upon expiration of the employment contract with female employee who is pregnant or nursing a child under 12 months of age, conclusion of a new employment contract shall be given priority.

4. During her menstruation period, a female employee shall be entitled to a 30 minute break in every working day; a female employee nursing a child under 12 months of age shall be entitled to 60 minutes breaks in every working day with full salary as stipulated in the employment contract.

According to the above maternity protection regimes in Vietnam, there are no cases where female employees who are 7 months pregnant will be allowed to leave 30 minutes early. However, depending on the regime and welfare of each company and enterprise, the regulations and rules may stipulate similar leave regimes (spontaneous leave is not compulsory according to the law).

How long is employees' annual leave reserved in Vietnam? 

Regarding the regulations on annual leave i8n Vietnam. According to the regulations, how long can employees keep their annual leave? Hope to get a reply soon.

Reply:

In Article 113 of the Labor Code 2019, there are regulations on annual leave as follows:

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.

Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, in case the employee does not take all the days off in the year, the employee can agree with the employer to take the annual leave into several times or to take a lump-sum leave for up to 3 years at a time. This issue must be agreed in the working regulations of the unit.

Is it possible to pay male employees higher than female employees in Vietnam?

I found out that my male colleagues are paid more even though we work in the same department in the factory. Is the company paying such a salary in accordance with the law in Vietnam?

Reply:

Pursuant to Article 90 of the Labor Code 2019 has the following regulations on salary:

1. A salary is an amount the employer pays the employee under an agreement for a work performed by the latter. Salary equals (=) base salary plus (+) allowances and other additional amounts.

2. The base salary must not fall below the statutory minimum wages.

3. Employers shall pay salaries fairly without discrimination against genders of employees who perform equal works.

Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, salary is an agreement between the employee and the employer. Employers must pay wages equally. In fact, the salary of each employee depends on many different factors, especially the value that the employee creates.

However, if your company has a policy of paying higher wages for men than women, even though they do the same work and create the same value, it is against the provisions of the labor law in Vietnam.

Best regards!