From 2020, Seniority Allowance for Officials and Public Employees Will Undergo Significant Changes

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According to the current regulations at Point a, Clause 8, Article 6 of Decree 204/2004/ND-CP amended by Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree 76/2009/ND-CP, the seniority allowance is applied to officers and professional soldiers belonging to the People's Army; salaried officers and non-commissioned officers of the People's Public Security; individuals involved in cipher work within the cipher organization; officials who have been classified by salary grades or specialized titles: customs, courts, procuracies, auditing, inspection, civil judgment enforcement, forest protection, and teachers teaching in public institutions.

However, from 2020, there will be 02 major changes to this seniority allowance affecting the rights of all officials and public employees. Specifically:

1. From July 1, 2020, teachers will no longer receive the seniority allowance

Specifically, according to the spirit of Resolution 27/NQ-TW, one of the key contents of wage policy reform is to abolish the seniority allowance for officials and public employees in general and teachers in particular.

To concretize this provision in Resolution 27, Article 76 of the Education Law 2019, effective from July 1, 2020, has also removed the seniority allowance from the policies for teachers.

From July 1, 2020, teachers will be placed on a salary scale suitable to their job positions and professional skills; they will be prioritized for a specific professional allowance as regulated by the Government of Vietnam.

According to Decree 113/2015/ND-CP, the specific professional allowance is applied to teachers teaching integrated subjects, teachers who are craftsmen, and those with high occupational skill levels teaching practical subjects in public vocational education institutions.

2. From 2021, only 03 categories will receive the seniority allowance

Specifically, one of the key points of wage policy reform in Resolution 27 is to design and issue a new wage scale system based on job positions, professional titles, and leadership roles to replace the current wage system; transition from the old wage scale to the new wage scale, ensuring no reduction in the current salary, including 05 wage scales:

- 1 wage scale for positions applied to officials and public employees holding leadership positions (elected and appointed) within the political system from the central to the commune level;- 1 professional wage scale for officials and public employees based on official grades and public employee professional titles applied generally to officials and public employees without leadership positions;- 3 wage scales for the armed forces.

Among these, one specific element in designing the new wage scales is to abolish the seniority allowance for officials and public employees, except for the following 03 categories: the military, the police, and cipher staff.

Thus, apart from these three categories, officials and public employees currently receiving a seniority allowance will no longer receive this allowance from 2021 onward.

Nguyen Trinh

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