Besides the office, administrative occupation,... where there is a good working environment, many employees are doing arduous, hazardous and dangerous occupations. For these subjects, the Vietnamese State always has its own remuneration policies to compensate for the loss of health and spirit because these jobs adversely affect their health, which may reduce their ability to work.
Article table of contents
1. Hazardous and dangerous allowances.
Article 103 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam provides as follows:
Pay rises including increases in salary, pay grades, allowance, benefits and other types of incentives for an employee shall be agreed on in the employment contract or the collective bargaining agreement, or stipulated in the regulations of the employer.
However, at present, there is no specific legal document guiding the payment of wages, hazardous allowances to employees, there amount of allowance, and standard calculation methods for this allowance.
In fact, if employees do jobs on the List of arduous, hazardous and dangerous occupations and works, and extremely arduous, hazardous and dangerous occupations and works promulgated by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam (in Circular 11/ 2020/TT-BLDTBXH takes effect on March 1, 2021, the amount of hazardous and dangerous allowances will depend on the agreement between the employee and the agency or enterprise that engages the employee when entering into a labour contract.
On the other hand, the regulations on building the salary scale and salary table in Article 93 of the Labor Code 2019 also do not mention the heavy, dangerous and toxic elements in the salary scale and payroll.
Compared with the previous regulations, Circular 11/2020/TT-BLDTBXH has added a significant number of occupations and jobs with heavy, hazardous and dangerous elements but still divided by specific fields. and classified according to working conditions type VI, V, VI. However, the new Circular only generalizes all occupations and jobs with heavy, hazardous and dangerous elements, but does not specify dangerous and especially heavy, hazardous and dangerous jobs, respectively. under any working conditions.
Therefore, in addition to the agreement with the agency and unit where they are working in the labour contract, there is still no basis for calculating the specific toxic and dangerous allowance for each case.
2. Working time:
According to Clause 3, Article 105 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, Employers shall limit the time of exposure to harmful elements in accordance with relevant National Technical Regulations and laws.
Specific working time will be applied according to separate regulations of each heavy, hazardous and dangerous occupation.
3. Annual leave:
According to Clause 1, Article 113 of the Labor Code 2019, Any employee who has been working for an employer for 12 months is entitled to fully-paid annual leave, which is stipulated in his/her employment contract as follows:
- 14 working days for employees that are minors, the disabled, employees who do laborious, toxic or dangerous works;
- 16 working days for employees who do highly laborious, toxic or dangerous works.
Meanwhile, employees who work for less than 12 months, the number of annual leave days is proportional to the number of working months.
4. Some other benefits and regimes:
*** For female employees doing heavy, hazardous and dangerous jobs
Whenever an employer is informed of the pregnancy of an female employee who is doing a laborious, toxic or dangerous work, a highly laborious, toxic or dangerous work or any work that might negatively affect her maternity, the employer shall assign her to a less laborious or safer work, or reduce the working hours by 01 hour per day without reducing her salary, rights or benefits until her child reaches 12 months of age. (Clause 2, Article 137 of the Labor Code 2019 ).
*** For elderly employees
Employer must not assign elderly employees to do laborious, toxic or dangerous works, or highly laborious, toxic or dangerous works that are harmful to their health, unless safety is ensured. (Clause 3, Article 149 of the Labor Code 2019 ).
*** For disabled employees
Assign disabled employees to laborious, toxic or dangerous works on the list promulgated by the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs without their consent after they are properly informed of the works. (Clause 2, Article 160 of the Labor Code 2019).
*** For apprentices and trainees in heavy, toxic and dangerous environments
Every trainee and apprentice shall be at least 14 years of age and healthy enough for the traineeship or apprenticeship. Trainees and apprentices of the occupations on the list of laborious, toxic and dangerous occupations or the list of highly laborious, toxic and dangerous occupations promulgated by the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall be at least 18 years of age, except for arts and sports. (Clause 4, Article 61 of the Labor Code 2019).
5. Retirement regime:
According to Clause 3, Article 169 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, The retirement ages of employees who suffer from work capacity reduction; doing laborious, toxic or dangerous works; working in highly disadvantaged areas may be younger by up to 05 years than the retirement ages specified in Clause 2 of this Article, unless otherwise prescribed by law.
From 2021, the retirement age of employees under normal working conditions is full 60 years and 03 months for male employees and full 55 years and 04 months for female employees; then, every year increases by 03 months for male employees and 04 months for female employees until reaching 62 years of age for male employees in 2028 and reaching 60 years of age for female employees in 2035.
6. Sickness regime:
According to Article 26 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 of Vietnam, employees who do heavy, hazardous or dangerous occupations or jobs, or especially heavy, hazardous or dangerous jobs are entitled to a sick leave with the following number of days:
- 40 days if the social insurance premium has been paid for less than 15 years (normal condition is 30 days);
- 50 days if the payment has been from full 15 - under 30 years (normal condition is 40 days);
- 70 days if paid for full 30 years or more (normal condition is 60 days);
7. Occupational disease regime:
To enjoy the occupational disease regime, the employee must ensure the conditions in Article 44 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 :
- Getting a disease on the list of occupational diseases jointly issued by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, when working in a hazardous environment or doing hazardous jobs;
- Suffering a working capacity decrease of 5% or more after getting the disease
Bao Ngoc
