Workplace sexual harassment is becoming a pressing issue that needs to be addressed in Vietnam. The 2012 Labor Code includes provisions on this matter, but they are only general and not specific, lacking documents and guidelines to identify sexual harassment behaviors, making the prevention and handling of violations challenging.
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Currently, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs has issued a Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace to guide interpersonal behavior between workers, and between workers and employers. However, this code is not a legal document but merely a recommendation for businesses to incorporate into their internal rules and regulations. Acts of sexual harassment in general have been stipulated in the Criminal Code, such as sexual assault, rape, and coercion... but these are severe acts that need to be handled by criminal law. Behavior that does not warrant criminal law intervention but adversely affects the workers and the working environment, obstructing business operations, needs adjustment.
According to the Code of Conduct, sexual harassment is a sexually-oriented act that affects the dignity of both women and men. It is an unacceptable and unwanted behavior, which, when not properly managed, becomes insulting to the recipient and creates a hostile, fearful, and unpleasant work environment. Acts intended as quid pro quo, occurring when an employer, supervisor, manager, or colleague acts or attempts to act in ways that affect hiring, promotion, training, discipline, dismissal, salary increases, or other benefits in exchange for sexual favors, are labeled as quid pro quo sexual harassment.
Forms of Sexual Harassment in Vietnam
- Physical Harassment: Contact, intentional touching, groping, pinching, even sexual assault, and coercion, etc.
- Verbal Harassment: Inappropriate, indecent comments with sexual connotations, continual unwanted proposals, or requests, etc.
- Non-verbal Harassment: Indecent body language, winking, displaying pornographic materials, etc.
The definition of “workplace” according to the code extends beyond the traditional work settings such as offices and factories to include any work-related locations such as conferences, training sessions, official business trips, work-related social activities, and any work-related communications.
Impact of Sexual Harassment in Vietnam
Sexual harassment has significant detrimental effects on workers, causing discomfort or anxiety, impacting job performance, and reducing productivity. The employer ultimately suffers losses, even potentially facing employee resignations which lead to training and recruitment costs. As this code of conduct is voluntary, not clearly mandated by legal documents, and not obligatory, the concept of what constitutes sexual harassment and its manifestations is elucidated in the code but not in the law. The fact that the code is not widely disseminated in businesses leads to a lack of clarity and confusion between acts of sexual harassment and workplace teasing. The issue lies in how business owners perceive sexual harassment in the workplace and whether they are willing to incorporate the code of conduct into their workplace policies.
At Point 2, Article 8 of the 2012 Labor Code stipulates "Prohibition of maltreatment of workers, sexual harassment in the workplace." Article 37 specifies that workers have the right to unilaterally terminate a labor contract if they are maltreated, sexually harassed, forced to labor, and Article 1, Article 183 stipulates that workers who are domestic helpers should not be mistreated, sexually harassed, forced to labor, or use violence against them. Sexual harassment behavior is included in the law but not specifically regulated, only mentioning prohibited behaviors, the rights and obligations of workers without sanctions or compensation responsibilities. To date, although the law has been in effect for 3 years, there is still no specific guidance document, including explanations and descriptions to officially define what constitutes sexual harassment.
According to the proposal in the Draft Report summarizing the evaluation of the 03-year implementation of the Labor Code, in the revision, supplementation of some Articles of the 2012 Labor Code, specific provisions regarding the behavior of "Sexual harassment in the workplace" must be stipulated.
In addition, the Ministry also proposes amending and supplementing some general provisions as follows:
- Supplement certain fundamental rights of employees: the right to appeal against decisions and behaviors of employers.
- Specifically regulate the main contents of the salary book for enterprises to implement.
- Key word:
- Workplace Sexual Harassment
- Vietnam
