On November 20, 2019, the National Assembly officially passed the 2019 Labor Code with many provisions closely related to workers. The definition of "sexual harassment in the workplace" is a new and noteworthy inclusion in this Code.
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To be specific, Clause 9 of Article 3 in the Labor Code 2019 defines:
“9. Sexual harassment at the workplace refers to sexual acts of any person towards another person at the workplace that are not desired or accepted by the latter. The workplace is any place where the employee actually works according to the agreement or assignment by the employer.”
Previously, the Labor Code 2012 mentioned sexual harassment behaviors sporadically in several articles, listing it as one of the prohibited behaviors and as a basis for employees to unilaterally terminate the labor contract before the deadline without a specific definition of this behavior.
With the official introduction of the definition of sexual harassment at the workplace in the Labor Code 2019, it demonstrates that the National Assembly has always been attentive to the contributions and aspirations of employees. In light of the incidents that have occurred recently, which violated the rights and interests of employees but lacked a concrete definition as a basis for penalizing harassment behaviors, this specific definition will undoubtedly assure workers, especially female workers, in their workplace.
For detailed contents of the new points, see the Labor Code 2019, effective from January 1, 2021.
Toan Trung
