Can a fixed-term employment contract be signed multiple times in Vietnam?

How many types of employment contracts are there in Vietnam?

In Clause 1, Article 20 of the 2019 Labor Code, there are 02 types of employment contracts including:

a) An indefinite-term employment contract is a contract in which the two parties neither fix the term nor the time of termination of the contract;

b) A fixed-term employment contract is a contract in which the two parties fix the term of the contract for a duration of up to 36 months from the date of its conclusion.

Can a fixed-term employment contract be signed multiple times in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

Can a fixed-term employment contract be signed multiple times in Vietnam?

In Article 20 of the 2019 Labor Code, there are regulations on types of employment contracts as follows:

Type of employment contracts

1. An employment contract shall be concluded in one of the following types:

a) An indefinite-term employment contract is a contract in which the two parties neither fix the term nor the time of termination of the contract;

b) A fixed-term employment contract is a contract in which the two parties fix the term of the contract for a duration of up to 36 months from the date of its conclusion.

2. If an employee keeps working when an employment contract mentioned in Point b Clause 1 of this Article expires:

a) Within 30 days from the expiration date of the employment contract, both parties shall conclude a new employment contract. Before such a new employment contract is concluded, the parties’ rights, obligations and interests specified in the old employment contract shall remain effective;

b) If a new employment contract is not concluded after the 30-day period, the existing employment contract mentioned in Point b Clause 1 of this Article shall become an employment contract of indefinite term;

c) The parties may enter into 01 more fixed-term employment contract. If the employee keeps working upon expiration of this second fixed-term employment contract, the third employment contract shall be of indefinite term, except for employment contracts with directors of state-invested enterprises and the cases specified in Clause 1 Article 149, Clause 2 Article 151 and Clause 4 Article 177 of this Labor Code.

Thus, if the fixed-term employment contract expires but the employee continues to work, the two parties can only sign a new fixed-term employment contract once. This means that a fixed-term employment contract can only be signed a maximum of 2 times.

However, if you fall into one of the following 4 cases, you can still sign a multiple fixed-term employment contract:

Case 1: employment contract with a person hired as a director in a state-owned enterprise;

Case 2: employment contract with elderly employees (Clause 1, Article 149 of the 2019 Labor Code)

Case 3: employment contract with foreign workers working in Vietnam, the two parties can agree to enter into multiple fixed-term employment contracts (Clause 2, Article 151 of the 2019 Labor Code)

Note: The term of the employment contract for foreign workers working in Vietnam must not exceed the term of the Work Permit.

Case 4: employment contract with an employee who is a member of the leadership board of the employee representative organization at the facility and is in the term of the employment contract when the employment contract expires (Clause 4, Article 177 of the 2019 Labor Code)

In what cases cannot a verbal employment contract be signed in Vietnam?

Article 14 of the 2019 Labor Code stipulates the forms of employment contract as follows:

Forms of employment contract

1. An employment contract shall be concluded in writing and made into two copies, one of which will be kept by the employee, the other by the employer, except for the case specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

An employment contract in the form of electronic data conformable with electronic transaction laws shall have the same value as that of a physical contract.

2. Both parties may conclude an oral contract with a term of less than 01 month, except for the cases specified in Clause 2 Article 18, Point a Clause 1 Article 145 and Clause 1 Article 162 of this Labor Code.

Thus, in principle, employment contracts must be concluded in writing in Vietnam. However, both parties can enter into a verbal employment contract for contracts with a term of less than 1 month, but are not allowed to sign a verbal employment contract in the following cases:

- For seasonal work or certain jobs with a term of less than 12 months, a group of workers aged 18 or older can authorize a worker in the group to enter into a employment contract;

- Employing people under 15 years old to work

- Labor is a domestic worker.

Best regards!