Vietnam: Things that employees should know to protect their rights and interests

1. All cases of paid days off of employees in 2019

According to Articles 111, 112, 115, 116 of the Labor Code 2012 of Vietnam, an employee is entitled to fully paid days off on the following days:

- Calendar New Year Holiday: 1 day (January 01, 2019);

- Lunar New Year Holidays: 5 consecutive days (01 day at the end of the lunar year and 04 days at the beginning of the lunar year, or 02 days at the end of the lunar year and 03 days at the beginning of the lunar year);

- Victory Day: 1 day (April 30, 2019);

- International Labor Day: 1 day (May 01, 2019);

- National Day: 1 day (September 02, 2019);

- Commemorative Celebration of Vietnam’s Forefather - Kings Hung: 1 day (March 10 of the lunar year);

- Marriage: 3 days;

- Marriage of his/her child: 1 day;

- Death of a blood parent: 3 days;

- Death of a parent of his/her spouse: 3 days;

- Death of his/her spouse: 3 days;

- Death of his/her child: 3 days;

- Annual leave (12 days/year for an employee who has been working for an employer for a full 12 months) and annual leave increased based on the length of employment.

Concurrently, according to Clause 9 Article 1 of Decree No. 148/2018/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, the salary used as the basis for calculation of pay for during annual leave days mentioned above is the monthly salary specified in the employment contract divided by (:) the number of working days in the month defined by the employer, multiplied by (x) the number of annual leave days and extra leave days, public holidays and paid leave days.

>>> View more: All cases of paid days off of employees in 2019

2. Increasing maternity benefits for male employees from July 01, 2019

According to Article 38 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 of Vietnam, in addition to being entitled to a paternity leave according to Clause 2 Article 34 of this Law, male employees currently paying social insurance premiums whose wives give birth to children shall also be entitled to a lump-sum allowance equaling 2 times the statutory pay rate for each child in the month of childbirth in case where only the father is covered by social insurance, providing that he must pay the social insurance from full 06 month or more within the period of 12 months before birth giving.

Thus, with the current statutory pay rate of VND 1,390,000/month, the lump-sum allowance that the husband receives when his wife gives birth is VND 2,780,000. However, according to Resolution No. 70/2018/QH14, from July 01, 2020, the statutory pay rate will be increased to VND 1,490,000/month. As a result, the lump-sum allowance will also increase accordingly, specifically to VND 2,980,000.

>>> View more: Increasing maternity benefits for male employees from July 01, 2019

3. Cases of tax-exempt incomes which are from wages

According to Clauses 9, 10 and 15 Article 4 of the Law on Personal Income Tax 2007 of Vietnam (amended in 2012 and 2014) and Clause 3 Article 2 of the Law on amendments to Tax Laws 2014, employees shall be exempt from personal income tax for the following income which are from salaries and wages, including:

- Wages paid for night shift or overtime work, which are higher than those paid for day shifts or prescribed working hours in accordance with law;

- Wages paid for overtime work, which are higher than those paid for day shifts or prescribed working hours in accordance with law;

- Retirement pensions paid by the Social Insurance;

- Monthly retirement pensions paid by voluntary retirement funds;

- Income from salaries, remunerations of Vietnamese crewmembers working for foreign shipping companies or Vietnamese shipping companies that provide international transport services.

Concurrently, according to Article 5 of the Law on Personal Income Tax 2007, Article 5 of Decree No. 65/2013/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government and Article 4 of Circular No. 111/2013/TT-BTC, the taxpayers facing difficulties in paying tax due to natural disasters, accidents, or fatal diseases shall receive a tax reduction in proportion to the damage. The reduction shall not exceed the tax payable.

Tax reduction shall be considered in the tax year. The taxpayer shall receive tax reduction for the tax year in which the taxpayer suffers from natural disaster, fire, accident, or fatal disease.

>>> View more: Things that employees should know to be eligible for income tax exemption or reduction for income from wages

4. 07 cases of reserving the period of payment of unemployment insurance premiums

According to Clause 4 Article 53 of the Law on Employment 2013 of Vietnam, employees may have the period of payment of unemployment insurance premiums reserved for calculating the subsequent duration of receipt of unemployment allowance in the following cases:

- He/she has found a job;

- He/she performs the military or public security service obligation;

- He/she attends a training course of full 12 months or longer;

- He/she serves a decision on application of the measure to send him/her to a reformatory, compulsory education institution or compulsory detoxification establishment;

- He/she is declared by a court as missing;

- He/she is kept in temporary detention;

- He/she serves a prison sentence.

Note: The reserved period equals the total of the periods of payment of unemployment insurance premiums minus the period during which the worker has received unemployment allowance, with one month of receipt of unemployment allowance equivalent to 12 months of payment of unemployment insurance premiums.

>>> View more: All things that employees should know about unemployment insurance in 2019

5. Forcing employees to work on holidays and Tet (Vietnamese New Year) can result in penalties of up to VND 50 million

According to Article 115 of the Labor Code 2012 of Vietnam, an employee is entitled to fully paid days off on the following days:

- Calendar New Year Holiday: 1 day (the first day of January of the calendar year);

- Lunar New Year Holidays: 5 days;

- Victory Day: 1 day (the thirtieth day of April of each calendar year);

- International Labor Day: 1 day (the first day of May of each calendar year);

- National Day: 1 day (the second day of September of each calendar year);

- Commemorative Celebration of Vietnam’s Forefather - Kings Hung: 1 day (the tenth of March of the lunar year).

If the employer forces the employees to work on these holidays without their consent, they may be subject to administrative fines of up to VND 15 million, as stipulated in Article 14 of Decree No. 95/2013/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, with specific fine levels as follows:

- A fine of from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND, if the violation concerns 01 - 10 workers.

- A fine of from 1,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND, if the violation concerns 11 - 50 workers.

- A fine of from 3,000,000 VND to 7,000,000 VND, if the violation concerns 51 - 100 workers.

- A fine of from 7,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND, if the violation concerns 101 - 300 workers.

- A fine of from 10,000,000 VND to 15,000,000 VND, if the violation concerns 301 workers or more.

Particularly, the employer shall be liable to a fine of from VND 25,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 when mobilizing workers to work overtime more than the maximum working hours prescribed in Point b Clause 2 Article 106 of the Labor Code 2012, or more than 12 hours in a day during holidays and weekends.

>>> View more: Failure to allow employees to take leave on Hung Kings' Commemoration Day, April 30th, and May 1st may result in penalties of up to VND 15 million

6. Employees who take sick leave are still entitled to be fully paid

This is a notable content specified in the Labor Code 2012 and the Law on Social Insurance 2014. When employees take sick leave, they are still entitled to be fully paid in the following cases:

* Fully paid annual leave

According to Article 111 of the Labor Code 2012, an employee who has been working for an employer for full 12 months is entitled to a fully paid annual leave as stated in his/her labor contract. Thus, if an employee is sick and uses their annual leave to seek medical treatment, they will still be fully paid for the days they took leave.

* Allowance levels of the sickness leave

Although the employee may not receive their full salary as in the annual leave policy, if he/she seeks medical treatment and obtains a medical certificate issued by an authorized hospital confirming their illness, he/she will still be entitled to receive his/her salary for the days he/she were on sick leave, as specified in the Law on Social Insurance 2014.

According to Clause 4 Article 28 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 and Clause 1 Article 6 of Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH, the sick benefit is calculated as follows:

Note: If the employee takes leave due to disease included in the List of diseases with required long-term treatment, sick benefit shall be calculated according to Clause 2 Article 6 of Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH.

>>> View more: Employees who take sick leave are still entitled to be fully paid

7. Cases of suspension from payment of social insurance

According to Article 88 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 and Article 16 of Decree No. 115/2015/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government and Article 29 of Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam, employers shall be suspended from payment to the fund of retirement and survivorship in the following cases:

- Suspend business operation in 01 month or longer because the employers meet with difficulties due to their structural or technical changes, or economic crisis or recession, or economic restructuring according to state policies or international commitments;

- The employers meet with difficulties due to natural disasters, conflagration, epidemic diseases, or bad harvest;

- If an employee who is participating in compulsory social insurance is put in temporary detention, both the employee and the employer are allowed to suspend social insurance contributions during the period of detention;

- Each guest worker prescribed in Clause 2 Article 2 of Decree No. 115/2015/ND-CP that loses a job temporarily certified by the enterprise providing guest worker services, such unemployment period shall be entitled to suspension from payment to the fund of retirement and survivorship;

- If the employees whose work is temporarily suspended, the employers and the employees can suspend the social insurance payment.

>>> View more: What are the cases of suspension from payment of compulsory social insurance?

8. Does the company have the right to retain the social insurance book when an employee leaves his/her job?

According to Clause 3 Article 47 of the Labor Code 2012, in case of terminating labor contracts, the employer shall complete the confirmation procedure and return the social insurance book and other papers of the employee which are kept by the employer.

Concurrently, according to Clause 5 Article 21 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, one of the responsibilities of employers is to coordinate with social insurance agencies in returning social insurance books to and certifying periods of social insurance premium payment for employees who terminate labor contracts or working contracts or cease working in accordance with law.

The employer must return the social insurance book to the employee within a period of 7 working days, or in special cases, it can be extended but not exceeding 30 days from the termination of the labor contract. The act of the company retaining the social insurance book of the employee and not returning it after the termination of the labor contract is a violation of labor laws and regulations. In this case, the employee has the right to file a lawsuit to the court located in the jurisdiction of the company's headquarters to request the court to resolve the matter and compel the company to fulfill its responsibilities upon the termination of the labor contract.

>>> View more: Does the company have the right to retain the social insurance book when an employee leaves his/her job?

9. One single step to look up social insurance participation period

In order to facilitate individuals and organizations in monitoring their participation in social insurance and health insurance, recently, the Vietnam Social Insurance issued Official Dispatch No. 330/CNTT-PM providing a method to inquire about the payment of social insurance and health insurance via SMS messages.

According to this Official Dispatch, employees and enterprises can inquire about the participation period of social insurance for employees by sending a SMS message with the following format:

TC BHXH (social insurance number) send to 8179

For example: TC BHXH 0110129425

After sending the message, the received response will include: Social insurance number 0110129425, Participation period in social insurance: 2 years (Total participation period in social insurance: 9 years 7 months; Total participation period in unemployment insurance: 8 years 8 months).

Furthermore, individuals can use SMS messages to inquire about other information such as the expiration date of health insurance cards, the participation period in social insurance within a specific time frame, submitted documents, and check the status of their files.

>>> View more: One single step to look up social insurance participation period

- Nguyen Trinh -

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