Vietnam: 06 labor disputes are not required to go through mediation procedures from 2021

According to Clause 2 Article 219 of the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam: “Individual labor disputes between employees and their employers shall be settled through mediation by labor mediators, unless the mediation is unsuccessful, the parties do not adhere to the agreements specified in the successful mediation record, or the mediation is not initiated by the labor mediator by the deadline prescribed by labor laws” shall be within the jurisdiction of the court.

However, the following labor disputes will be resolved by the Court without having to go through the mediation procedure, including:

1. The labor dispute over a dismissal for disciplinary reasons or unilateral termination of an employment contract;

2. The labor dispute over compensation and allowances upon termination of an employment contract;

3. The labor dispute between a domestic worker and his/her employer;

4. The labor dispute over social insurance in accordance with social insurance laws; over health insurance in accordance with health insurance laws ; over unemployment insurance in accordance with employment laws; over insurance for occupational accidents and occupational disease in accordance with occupational safety and health laws;

5. The labor dispute over damages between an employee and the organization that dispatches the employee to work overseas under a contract;

6. The labor dispute between the outsourced worker and the client enterprise. (this is a new case supplemented by the Labor Code 2019, the Code of Civil Procedure 2015 does not regulate this case)

Besides, the Labor Code 2019 of Vietnam also supplements labor disputes within the jurisdiction of the court, including:

- In case both parties agree to bring an individual labor dispute to a Labor Arbitration Council but an arbitral tribunal is not established by the deadline prescribed by labor laws, the arbitral tribunal does not issue a decision on dispute settlement or a party does not adhere to the decision issued by the arbitral tribunal, the dispute may be brought to Court.

- In case a right-based collective labor dispute has been undertaken by a labor mediator but the mediation is unsuccessful, a party does not adhere to the successful mediation record, or the mediation is not initiated by the labor mediator by the deadline prescribed by labor laws, the dispute may be brought to Court.

- In case both parties agree to bring a right-based collective labor dispute to a Labor Arbitration Council but an arbitral tribunal is not established by the deadline prescribed by labor laws, the arbitral tribunal does not issue a decision on dispute settlement or a party does not adhere to the decision issued by the arbitral tribunal, the dispute may be brought to Court.

Also in Clause 2 Article 219 of this Labor Code 2019, Clause 2 Article 32 of the Code of Civil Procedure 2015 has been annulled. Thus, collective labor disputes over rights between employee collectives and employers under the labor law which have been settled by chairpersons of the People's Committees of districts but the employee collectives or employers disagree with such decisions or which are not settled by chairpersons of the People's Committees of districts within the prescribed time limit shall not be within the jurisdiction of the court from January 01, 2021.

Thus, from January 01, 2021, disputes between the between the outsourced worker and the client enterprise will fall under the jurisdiction of the Court, but mediation is not required, concurrently, in labor disputes, if other cases do not fall into the above cases, the Court will not settle.

Le Hai

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