From January 01, 2021, the Labor Code 2019 will officially take effect. According to this new Law, employees are entitled to refuse to work in the following 03 cases.
Article table of contents
From January 01, 2021, the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam allows employees to refuse to work in the following cases:
Case 1: Employees have the right to refuse to work if he/she finds that the work directly threatens his/her life or health
Specifically, according to Article 5 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, employees have the right to refuse to work if he/she finds that the work directly threatens his/her life or health.
This is a new benefit for employees compared to the current regulations in the Labor Code 2012 of Vietnam. According to this new provision, from January 01, 2021, employees have the right to refuse to work if he/she finds that the work directly threatens his/her life or health during the work performance.
Case 2: Employees have the right to refuse to work overtime
According to Point a Clause 2 Article 107 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, one of the conditions for an employer to request an employee to work overtime is the employee’s consent.
Thus, from January 01, 2021, enterprises can only request an employee to work overtime when the employee agrees to work overtime. And vice versa, employees have the right to refuse to work overtime, especially when working overtime for jobs that are dangerous and harmful to health.
Besides, according to Article 108 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, in the following cases, an employer has the right to request any employee to work overtime on any day without limits on the overtime hours and the employee must not decline:
- Execution of a conscription order for the purpose of national security or national defense as prescribed by law;
- Performance of tasks necessary to protect human life or property of certain organizations or individuals in the prevention and recovery of natural disasters, fires, epidemics and disasters.
However, employees have the right to refuse to perform tasks that threaten the employees’ health or life as prescribed by occupational safety and health laws.
Case 3: Employees have the right to refuse to be transferred after an accumulated period of 60 working days within 01 year
According to Article 29 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam, in the event of sudden difficulties such as natural disasters, fire, major epidemics, implementation of preventive and remedial measures for occupational accidents or diseases, electricity and water supply failures, or for reasons of business and production demands, the employer may temporarily assign an employee to perform a work which is not prescribed in the employment contract for an accumulated period of up to 60 working days within 01 year, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the employee.
Thus, according to this provision, in case the employer assigns an employee to perform a work which is not prescribed in the employment contract for an accumulated period of more than 60 working days within 01 year, the employee’s written consent must be required. This provision means that the employee has the right to refuse to be transferred after an accumulated period of 60 working days within 01 year. In case the employee refuses to be reassigned for more than 60 working days in 01 year and has to suspend the employment, he/she shall receive the suspension pay from the employer.
Ty Na
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- Labor Code 2019
