Any person forcing officials to resign or laying off workers against the law may face a penalty of up to 03 years' imprisonment in Vietnam

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To protect the rights of officials and public employees as well as workers, the Criminal Code 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017, has specifically provided a separate clause to regulate this behavior, specifically:

Article 162. Forcing officials to resign or laying off workers against the law

1. Any person who, for personal gain or other personal motives, commits any of the following acts causing serious consequences, shall be subject to a fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, non-custodial reform for up to 1 year, or imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year:

a) Illegally deciding to force officials and public employees to resign;

b) Unlawfully dismissing workers;

c) Coercing, threatening officials and public employees, and workers to resign.

2. Committing the crime in one of the following circumstances shall be subject to a fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 or imprisonment from 1 year to 3 years:

a) Against two or more persons;

b) Against a woman known to be pregnant;

c) Against a person raising a child under 12 months of age;

d) Causing the person forced to resign or dismissed to commit suicide;

dd) Causing other very serious or particularly serious consequences.

3. The offender may also be banned from holding certain positions from 1 to 5 years.

Thus, if any person, for personal gain, coerces, forces, or unlawfully decides to force officials and public employees to resign causing serious consequences, depending on the severity, they will be subject to the above penalties.

Currently, the law stipulates the following cases in which officials and public employees will be forced to resign:

For officials: Based on Clause 3, Article 58 of the Law on Officials 2008, Article 14 of Decree 34/2011/ND-CP, Clause 3, Article 51 of the Anti-Corruption Law 2018, officials will be forced to resign in the following cases:

- Failure to complete tasks for two consecutive years;

- Sentenced to imprisonment without probation;

- Using illegal documents for recruitment into agencies, organizations, or units;

- Drug addiction certified by a competent health authority;

- Voluntarily absent from work for a total of 07 working days or more in a month, or from 20 working days or more in a year without a valid reason, after being verbally notified by their employing agency;

- Committing particularly serious violations of legal regulations on anti-corruption, practicing thrift, combating wastefulness, labor discipline, preventing social evils, and other legal regulations related to officials;

- Falsely declaring assets, income, or providing untruthful explanations about the origin of additional assets or income, which may result in forced resignation.

For public employees: Based on Article 13 of Decree 27/2012/ND-CP, public employees will be forced to resign in the following cases:

- Sentenced to imprisonment without probation or sentenced by a court for corruption;

- Failing to comply with professional, technical processes, ethical standards, and rules of conduct in performing professional activities, causing particularly serious consequences;

- Using illegal documents for recruitment into public service providers;

- Drug addiction certified by a competent health authority;

- Voluntarily absent from work for a total of 07 working days or more in a month, or from 20 working days or more in a year without a valid reason, calculated within the calendar month or calendar year;

- Committing particularly serious violations of legal regulations on anti-corruption, though not constituting a criminal offense; regulations on practicing thrift, combating wastefulness; labor discipline; preventing social evils, and other legal regulations related to public employees.

Thanh Lam

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