Officials, employees, and workers in general are entitled to leave and annual leave as prescribed by law. What are the similarities and differences between the leave policies for officials and those for employees/workers?
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Leave and annual leave policies for officials and employeess in Vietnam (Illustrative image)
According to Article 13 Law on Officials 2008, amended and supplemented in 2019, officials are entitled to annual leave, holidays, and personal leave as regulated by labor laws.
According to the Labor Code 2019, officials will have the following days off:
- Annual Leave
In normal working conditions, officials who have worked for 12 months at an agency/unit are entitled to 12 working days of annual leave.
If they have worked for less than 12 months, the number of annual leave days for officials is calculated proportionally to the actual months worked (one day off for each month worked).
Additionally, for every 5 years of service at an agency/unit, the number of annual leave days for officials will be increased by 1 day.
- Holidays
According to Article 112 of the Labor Code 2019, officials have a total of 11 public holidays. These include:
- New Year's Day: 1 day (January 1);
- Lunar New Year: 5 days;
- Victory Day: 1 day (April 30);
- International Labor Day: 1 day (May 1);
- National Day: 2 days (September 2 and one adjacent day);
- Hung Kings' Commemoration Day: 1 day (10th day of the 3rd lunar month).
However, depending on actual conditions, the Prime Minister of Vietnam will decide the specific number and duration of holidays for officials.
- Personal Leave and Unpaid Leave
Similar to employees, officials are entitled to personal leave and unpaid leave as follows:
- Marriage: 3 days;
- Child's marriage: 1 day;
- Death of biological parents, adoptive parents, parents-in-law, spouse, biological or adopted children: 3 days.
Apart from the annual leave and public holidays similar to employees, the policies and annual leave entitlements for officials and employees have some differences such as:
| Content | Officials | Employees |
| Payment for unused leave days | - In case of work requirements, if officials do not take or do not fully utilize their annual leave days, they are entitled to compensation equivalent to their salary for the unused leave days. (As per Article 13 of the Law on Officials 2008) - In addition to salary, officials are also entitled to an additional compensation for unused annual leave days, with the maximum support level not exceeding the overtime pay rate for working on Saturdays and Sundays (200% of the salary). (As per Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular 141/2011/TT-BTC) |
In case of job termination or unemployment without taking or fully utilizing annual leave, the employer must pay the salary for the unused leave days. (As per Clause 3, Article 113 of the Labor Code 2019) |
| Travel expenses for annual leave | Officials belonging to certain categories are entitled to travel expense reimbursement and travel allowances for annual leave, including: - Officials who are non-local (from lowland areas) working in remote, mountainous, border, and island areas with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.5 or higher (As per Joint Circular 11/2005/TTLT-BNV-BLDTBXH-BTC-UBDT); - Local people (from mountainous, remote, border or island areas) working in lowland areas, under conditions entitled to annual leave per the Labor Code, with the approval of the head of their agency/unit. |
For annual leave, if employees travel by road, rail, or waterway and the travel time (both ways) exceeds 2 days, the travel time beyond 2 days will be added to the annual leave and counted for only one leave period in a year. |
Thus, basically, officials will have the same annual leave and public holidays as employees under the Labor Code. However, in addition to these days off, officials also enjoy additional salary policies for unused leave days and travel allowances if they fall into the categories mentioned above.
Thuy Tram
