This is a question that Law Secretary has recently received quite a lot from our esteemed Clients and Members. Do teachers at different educational levels who sell goods online violate legal regulations and face disciplinary action? Law Secretary will address this issue in the article below.
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According to the provisions of Clause 6, Article 19 of the 2010 Law on Public Employees, in addition to the prohibitions stipulated in this Law, public employees are not allowed to engage in activities related to production, business, and human resource matters as prescribed in the 2018 Law on Anti-Corruption, the 2013 Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Waste, and other activities as specified by law and competent authorities.
To be specific, according to Clause 2, Article 20 of the 2018 Law on Anti-Corruption, and Clause 2, Article 18 of the 2014 Enterprise Law, public employees holding positions of authority in agencies, units, or organizations are not allowed to establish or participate in the management of private enterprises, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, partnerships, or cooperatives, except in cases where the law provides otherwise.
Hence, it can be seen that current legal regulations do not prohibit public employees in general and teachers in particular from selling goods online. However, according to Section 3.c of the Directive 26/CT-TTg of 2016 on strengthening discipline in state administrative agencies at all levels, public employees are not allowed to use working hours for personal activities.
"Strictly comply with regulations on ethics, and communication culture of officials and public employees; do not use working hours for personal tasks; adhere to the culture of meeting conduct; do not smoke in offices, meeting rooms, halls; strictly prohibit the use of alcohol, beer, and other alcoholic beverages during working hours, lunch breaks of working days, and duty days; do not gamble in casinos in any form."
Cases of violations, such as selling goods online during working hours, must be considered for disciplinary action in accordance with legal regulations – This is a regulation emphasized by the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam in Directive 26. This regulation aims to address a situation where some public employees take advantage of working hours to engage in personal activities unrelated to their professional duties, such as selling goods online, causing a financial loss to the State when salaries are paid to non-working or ineffective working employees.
Additionally, according to the provisions of Article 6 of Decision 16/2008/QD-BGDDT, one of the things teachers are not allowed to do is use mobile phones and engage in personal work during meetings, while in class, during study, invigilation, and marking exams.
"Article 6. Preserve and protect the tradition of teachers' ethics
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7. Do not use mobile phones and engage in personal work during meetings, while in class, during study, invigilation, and marking exams."
During class time, study periods, or while invigilating and marking exams, teachers are absolutely prohibited from using mobile phones and from engaging in personal activities such as browsing social media or selling goods online.
From the aforementioned regulations, it can be seen that public employees in general, and teachers in particular, selling goods online will not be accepted if they use working hours to sell goods, affecting teaching and studying activities, and they will be disciplined accordingly depending on the severity of the violation. However, cases where teachers sell goods outside working hours or teaching time do not violate the regulations and will not face disciplinary action.
Nguyen Trinh
