The Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam adds many new regulations to better protect the rights of employees

1. More fully paid days off for employees from 2021

From 2021, employees will have a total of 11 public holidays and New Year holidays in the year, including:

- Gregorian Calendar New Year Holiday: 01 day (the 1st of January of the Gregorian calendar);

- Lunar New Year Holidays: 05 days;

- Victory Day: 01 day (the 30th of April of the Gregorian calendar);

- International Labor Day: 01 day (the 1st of May of the Gregorian calendar);

- National Day: 02 days (the 2nd of September of the Gregorian calendar and the previous or next day);

- Hung Kings Commemoration Day: 01 day (the 10th of the third month of the Lunar calendar).

According to this provision, employees will have an extra day off on National Day on September 2 and still receive the full salary.

Besides, an employee is also entitled to take a fully paid personal leave in the following circumstance, to be specific, 3 days off in cases of death of his/her biological or adoptive parent; death of his/her spouse’s biological or adoptive parent; death of spouse, biological or adopted child. Notably, the employee must notify the employer in this case.

2. An employee who works for at least 06 hours per day shall be given a rest break of at least 30 minutes

The Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam supplements and stipulates in detail that employees shall be given a rest break, depending on the case, whether it is counted in the working time or not. Specifically:

Thus, the current regulation has supplemented rest breaks for employees working at least 06 hours per day while according to the Labor Code 2012 of Vietnam, a rest break is for employees working 8 hours consecutively or 6 hours. However, only in case a shift lasts at least 06 consecutive hours, the rest break will be included in the working hour.

3. Female employees are given priority to enter into contracts

According to provisions of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam on maternity protection, there is a supplemented provision that upon expiration of the employment contract with a female employee who is pregnant or nursing a child under 12 months of age, conclusion of a new employment contract shall be given priority.

Besides, the employer must not dismiss an employee or unilaterally terminate the employment contract with an employee due to his/her marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or nursing a child under 12 months of age, except for cases where the employer that is a natural person dies or is declared incapacitated, missing or dead by the court, or the employer that is not a natural person ceases its business operation, declared by a provincial business registration authority that it does not have a legal representative or a person authorized to perform the legal representative’s rights and obligations.

4. Apply dismissal to people who engage in sexual harassment at work

According to Clause 2 Article 125 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, the employee discloses technological or business secrets or infringing the intellectual property rights of the employer, or commits acts which are seriously detrimental or posing seriously detrimental threat to the assets or interests of the employer, or commits sexual harassment in the workplace against the internal labor regulations shall be dismissed for disciplinary reasons. This is a new provision of the Labor Code 2019 compared to the Labor Code 2012 of Vietnam, according to which the person who commits sexual harassment in the workplace shall be fired immediately.

5. Employees are entitled to unilaterally terminate the contract without reason, even quit without prior notice

According to the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, an employee shall have the right to unilaterally terminate the employment contract without reasons, provided he/she notices the employer in advance:

- At least 45 days in case of an indefinite-term employment contract;

- At least 30 days in case of an employment contract with a fixed term of 12 – 36 months;

- At least 03 working days in case of an employment contract with a fixed term of under 12 months;

- The notice period in certain fields and jobs shall be specified according to Article 7 of the Decree No. 145/2020/NĐ-CP of the Government.

An employee is shall have the right to unilaterally terminate the employment contract without prior notice if he/she:

- is not assigned to the work or workplace or not provided with the working conditions as agreed in the employment contract, except for the cases of reassignment of an employee against the employment contract;

- is not paid adequately or on schedule, except for force majeure event;

- is maltreated, assaulted, physically or verbally insulted by the employer in a manner that affects the employee’s health, dignity or honor; is forced to work against his/her will;

- is sexually harassed in the workplace;

- is pregnant and has to stop working;

- reaches the retirement age, unless otherwise agreed by the parties;

- finds that the employer fails to provide truthful information in a manner that affects the performance of the employment contract.

The above are prominent new provisions in the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam to better protect the rights of employees from 2021. In which, there are many important rights that employees need to know.

Thuy Tram

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