What Are the Responsibilities for Unilaterally Terminating Employment Before the Contract Term Expires?

Thu Ky Luat would like to address your concerns as follows:

The labor contract mentioned is a fixed-term contract. Therefore, you are only entitled to unilaterally terminate the labor contract in one of the cases specified in Article 37 of the Labor Code 2012:

- Not being assigned the correct job, workplace, or not being provided with the working conditions agreed upon in the labor contract;- Not being paid in full or being paid late as agreed in the labor contract;- Being mistreated, sexually harassed, or subjected to forced labor;- Facing personal or family difficulties that prevent the continuation of the labor contract;- Being elected to a dedicated position in an elected body or being appointed to a position in the state apparatus;- Female worker being pregnant and needing to resign as per the medical determination of an authorized health facility;- The worker being sick or having an accident requiring 90 consecutive days of treatment for those working under a fixed-term labor contract, and one-fourth of the contract term for those working under a seasonal labor contract or a specific job contract with a duration of less than 12 months, without recovery of labor capacity.

If the employee leaves work for reasons other than the ones mentioned above, it will be considered as an illegal unilateral termination of the contract (based on Article 41 of this Code).

In this case, the employee has the obligations (Article 43 of this Code):

- Not being entitled to severance pay and having to compensate the employer half a month's salary according to the labor contract;- If there is a violation of the notice period, the employee must compensate the employer an amount equivalent to the employee's salary for the days without prior notice;- Reimburse training expenses to the employer (if any).

Therefore, in your case, if you unilaterally terminate the contract before the end of the term, you will not be eligible for severance pay and will have to compensate the employer half a month's salary as agreed in the contract.

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