Vietnam: Seconded teachers and 04 important regulations to note

1. Cases of teacher secondment

According to Article 26 of Decree No. 29/2012/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, secondment of public employees is implemented in the following cases:

- To perform unexpected or urgent tasks;

- To perform work which must be completed within a certain period of time.

Notably, according to Clause 7 Article 36 of the Law on Public Employees 2010 of Vietnam, secondment is not applicable to female public employees who are pregnant or nursing under 36-months-old babies.

2. Time limit for teacher secondment

According to Clause 2 Article 26 of Decree No. 29/2012/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, the secondment period must not exceed 3 years. For a number of special sectors or fields requiring a longer secondment period, the secondment period complies with specialized laws.

3. Regimes and policies for seconded teachers

According to Clause 5 Article 26 of Decree No. 29/2012/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government: “Secondees are entitled to the interests specified in Clauses 4, 5 and 6, Article 36 of the Law on Public Employees”. To be specific:

- During the period of secondment, seconding public non-business units shall assure salaries and other benefits for secondees.

- Secondees working in mountainous, border, island, deep-lying, remote, ethnic minority areas or areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions are entitled to support policies as stipulated by the Government.

- At the end of the period of secondment, secondees may return to their former units. Heads of seconding public non-business units shall receive them back and arrange jobs suitable to their qualifications and skills.

Currently, teachers who have expired their secondment term in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions but have not yet been transferred to their previous units will still be entitled to the attraction allowance as prescribed in Article 8 of Decree No. 61/2006/NĐ-CP amended by Clause 2 Article 1 of Decree No. 19/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government; however, this regulation has been annulled by Clause 3 Article 16 of Decree No. 76/2019/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from December 01, 2019.

According to Article 4 of Decree No. 76/2019/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government:

Article 4. Attraction allowance

The entities specified in Article 2 of this Decree are entitled to an attraction allowance equal to 70% of their current salary plus the allowance for leadership positions (according to the salary table prescribed by the competent authorities of the Party and the State), overtime allowance (if any) applicable to actual working time in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions not exceeding 05 years (60 months).

4. Disciplinary action against seconded public employees

According to Clause 3 Article 14 of Decree No. 27/2012/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government: “For seconded officials, the heads of agencies, organizations or units where the officers are sent to be seconded shall conduct disciplinary consideration and propose disciplinary forms and send the file of disciplinary action to the public non-business unit that appoints the seconded official to issue a disciplinary decision according to its competence”.

According to Clause 3 Article 10 and Clause 2 Article 11 of Decree No. 27/2012/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, in case the public employee fails to comply with the work assignment of a competent person or fails to perform the work or duty committed in the work contract without justifiable reasons, they may be disciplined in one of two forms: reprimand and warning.

Thus, the authority to take disciplinary action against public employees who are seconded teachers will be decided by the public non-business unit that appoints the seconded official.

Thu Ba

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