Is there any fine imposed on enterprises in Vietnam for forcing employees to work on public holidays?

What are regulations on the salary for employees who work on public holidays in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 112 of the Labor Code in 2019 stipulating public holidays 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 1^st of January of the Gregorian calendar);

b) Lunar New Year Holidays: 05 days;

c) Victory Day: 01 day (the 30^th of April of the Gregorian calendar);

d) International Labor Day: 01 day (the 1^st of May of the Gregorian calendar);

dd) National Day: 02 days (the 2^nd of September of the Gregorian calendar and the previous or next day);

e) Hung Kings Commemoration Day: 01 day (the 10^th of the third month of the Lunar calendar).

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As regulations above, employees are entitled to take a day off and receive full salary on public holidays such as Victory Day (April 30th), International Labor Day (May 1st)...

However, if employees work on public holidays, they will be paid overtime salary higher than the regular daily salary.

Pursuant to Article 98 of the Labor Code in 2019 stipulating overtime pay, night work pay as follows:

Overtime pay, night work pay

1. An employee who works overtime will be paid an amount based on the piece rate or actual salary as follows:

a) On normal days: at least 150%;

b) On weekly days off: at least 200%;

c) During public holidays, paid leave, at least 300%, not including the daily salary during the public holidays or paid leave for employees receiving daily salaries.

2. An employee who works at night will be paid an additional amount of at least 30% of the normal salary.

3. An employee who works overtime at night will be paid, in addition to the salary specified in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article, an amount of at least 20% of the day work salary of a normal day, weekend or public holiday.

4. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Therefore, if employees work on public holidays, they will be paid at least 300% of their daily salary, excluding the daily salary for employees receiving daily salaries.

Furthermore, employees who work at night will be paid an additional minimum of 30% based on the piece rate or actual salary.

In addition, if employees work overtime at night, in addition to the regular salary payment, they will receive an additional 20% of the day work salary of a normal day, weekend or public holiday.

Is there any fine imposed on enterprises in Vietnam for forcing employees to work on public holidays? - image from internet

Is there any fine imposed on enterprises in Vietnam for forcing employees to work on public holidays?

Pursuant to Clause 2 Article 107 of the Labor Code in 2019 stipulating overtime work as follows:

Overtime work

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2. An employer has the right to request an employee to work overtime when all of the following conditions are met:

a) The employee agrees to work overtime;

b) The number of overtime working hours of the employee does not exceed 50% of the normal working hours in 01 day; in case of weekly work, the total normal working hours plus overtime working hours shall not exceed 12 hours in 01 day, and 40 hours in 01 month;

c) The total overtime working hours do not exceed 200 hours in 01 year, except for the cases specified in Clause 3 of this Article.

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Therefore, working on public holidays is considered as overtime work. When a company wants to utilize employees for overtime work on these days, they must obtain the consent from the employees.

If enterprises in Vietnam force employees to work on public holidays, they shall be fined as specified under Clause 3 Article 18 of the Decree 12/2022/ND-CP:

Violations against regulations on working hours and rest periods

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3. A fine ranging from VND 20.000.000 to VND 25.000.000 shall be imposed upon an employer for commission of one of the following violations:

a) Applying normal working hours exceeding the working hours prescribed by law;

b) Mobilizing employees to work overtime without their consent, except for the cases specified in Article 108 of the Labour Code.

In the case where employers unilaterally mobilize employees to work overtime without obtaining their consent, they will be fined from 20 million to 25 million VND.

The above penalty applies to individual employers who violate the regulations. However, for organizations, specifically enterprises that violate the regulations, the fine will be doubled, ranging from 40 million to 50 million VND (according to Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 12/2022/ND-CP).

What is the prescriptive periods of administrative violations regarding the act of forcing employees to work on public holidays in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 5 of the Decree 12/2022/ND-CP stipulating as follows:

Prescriptive periods of administrative violations

1. The prescriptive periods of administrative violations against regulations on labour, social insurance, and Vietnamese guest workers shall comply with the provisions of Clause 1 Article 6of the Law on handling administrative violations.

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 6 of the Law on handling administrative violations in 2012 (amended by Clause 4.a Article 1 of the Law on amendments to the Law on handling administrative violations in 2020) stipulating as follows:

Statute of limitations for handling of administrative violations

1. The statute of limitations for administrative violation sanction is regulated as follows:

a) The limitation period for imposition of an administrative penalty shall be 01 year, except in the following cases:

The limitation period for imposition of sanctions against administrative violations arising from the following sectors and activities: accounting; invoices; fees and charges; insurance business; price management; securities; intellectual property; construction; fishery; forestry; investigation, planning, exploration, extraction and use of water resources; oil and gas and other mining activities; environmental protection; atomic energy; management and development of houses and offices; land; levees; press; publishing; commodity production, export, import and trading; manufacturing and trading of banned and counterfeit goods; foreign worker management, the statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations, shall be 02 years.

The limitation period for imposition of sanctions against administrative violations arising from taxes shall be subject to laws on tax administration;

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As regulations above, the prescriptive period of administrative violations regarding the act of forcing employees to work on public holidays in Vietnam is 1 year.

Best regards!