Latest summary of rights and obligations of employees and employers in Vietnam

Latest summary of rights and obligations of employees and employers in Vietnam

1. Who is the employee? Who is the employer?

Clause 1, Article 3 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates for employees as follows:

- "Employee” means a person who works for an employer under an agreement, is paid, managed and supervised by the employer.

The legal working age is 15, except for the cases specified in Section 1 Chapter XI of Labor Code 2019.

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 3 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates for employers as follows:

- "Eemployer” means an enterprise, agency, organization, cooperative, household or individual who employs other people under agreements. An employer that is an individual shall have full legal capacity.

2. Rights and obligations of employees in Vietnam

Article 5 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates the rights and obligations of employees as follows:

2.1. Rights of employees in Vietnam

An employee has the rights to:

- Work; freely choose an occupation, workplace or occupation; participate in basic and advanced occupational training; develop professional skills;

Suffer no discrimination, forced labor and sexual harassment in the workplace;

- Receive a salary commensurate with his/her occupational skills on the basis of an agreement with the employer;

Be provided with personal protective equipment and work in an occupationally safe and healthy environment;

Take statutory sick leaves, annual paid leaves and receive collective welfare benefits;

- Establish, join an representative organization of employees, occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law; request and participate in dialogues with the employer, implementation of democracy regulations and collective bargaining with the employer;

Receive consultancy at the workplace to protect his/her legitimate rights and interests; participate in management activities according to the employer’s regulations;

- Refuse to work if he/she finds that the work directly threatens his/her life or health;

- Unilaterally terminate the employment contract;

- Go on strike;

- Exercise other rights prescribed by law.

2.2. Obligations of employees in Vietnam

An employee has the obligations to:

- implement the employment contract, collective bargaining agreement and other lawful agreements;

- obey internal labor regulations, the lawful management, administration and supervision by the employer;

- implement regulations of laws on labor, employments, vocational education, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational safety and health.

3. Rights and obligations of the employers in Vietnam

In Article 6 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates the rights and obligations of the employer as follows:

3.1. Rights of the employers in Vietnam

An employer has the rights to:

- Recruit, arrange and manage and supervise employees; give commendation and take actions against violations of internal labor regulations;

- Establish, join and operate in employer representative organization, occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law;

- Request the representative organization of employees to negotiate the conclusion of the collective bargaining agreement; participate in settlement of labor disputes and strikes; discuss with the representative organization of employees about issues related to labor relations and improvement of the material and spiritual lives of employees;

- Temporarily close the workplace;

- Exercise other rights prescribed by law.

3.2. Obligations of the employers in Vietnam

An employer has the obligations to:

- Implement the employment contracts, collective bargaining agreement and other lawful agreements with employees; respect the honor and dignity of employees;

- Establish a mechanism for and hold dialogue with the employees and the representative organization of employees; implement the regulations on grassroots-level democracy;

- Provide basic training and advanced training in order to help employees improve their professional skills or change their occupations;

- Implement regulations of laws on labor, employments, vocational education, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational safety and health; develop and implement solutions against sexual harassment in the workplace;

- Participate in development of the national occupational standards, assessment and recognition of employees’ professional skills.

Ngoc Nhi

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