​Rights and obligations of the defendants in Vietnam

Rights and obligations of the defendants in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Who is the person subject to labour-related complaint?

According to Clause 8, Article 3 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, the person subject to a labour-related complaint is the employer or the head of an employment-related organization whose decision or behavior is complained of.

Specifically, labour-related complaint refers to a complaint filed by a worker, an intern, an apprentice or a probation worker according to procedures herein to request the officer competent to settle labour-related complaints to consider labour decisions or labour acts of an employer when there are grounds for presuming that such decisions or acts violate the labour law and infringe his/her legitimate rights and interests.

(Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP)

2. Rights and obligations of the defendants in Vietnam

2.1. Rights of the defendants in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, a defendant shall be entitled to:

- Present evidences on the validity of the decision or acts against which the complaint is made;

- Access, read or make copies of documents and evidences obtained by the second-time complaint handler during the complaint handling, except information and documents which are classified as state secrets or personal privacy of the complainant as regulated by applicable laws;

- Request relevant individuals/ authorities/ organizations to provide information and documents concerning the matters of the complaint within 05 working days from the receipt of the request for provision of such information and documents, and then transfer them to the second-time complaint handler, except those classified as state secrets or personal privacy of the complainant as regulated by applicable laws;

- Obtain the second-time complaint handling decision;

- File a lawsuit in Court in accordance with applicable regulations of the Code of administrative procedures if disagreeing with the second-time complaint handling decision issued under regulations in Article 31 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP.

2.2. Obligations of the defendants in Vietnam

Specifically, in Clause 2, Article 11 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, a defendant shall bear the duties to:

- Handle the first-time complaint within his/her competence as regulated in Clause 1 Article 15, Clause 1 Article 16, Clause 1 Article 17 and Clause 1 Article 18 Decree 24/2018/ND-CP;

- Personally attend or authorize his/her legal representative to attend talks;

- Obey the decision on verification of complaint matters given by the person or authority competent to handle the second-time complaint;

- Provide information and documents concerning the complaint matters within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the request from the second-time complaint handler;

- Explain the legality and truthfulness of the decision or acts against which the complaint is filed at the request of the second-time complaint handler;

- Obey effective complaint handling decisions.

Aside from the above regulations, the defendant shall perform other rights and obligations as regulated by laws.

3. Complaints to be declined to be considered as prescribed herein

Complaints to be declined to be considered as prescribed herein include:

- The decision or acts about which the complaint is filed do not involve legitimate rights and interests of the complainant.

- The complainant neither has full legal capacity nor a legal representative.

- The complaint is filed by an illegal representative.

- The complaint bears neither signature nor fingerprints of the complainant.

- The complaint is filed after the prescriptive period set forth in Clause 1 Article 7 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP but the complainant fails to give legitimate reasons as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 7 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP.

- The complainant fails to continue carrying out procedures for complaint within 30 days after a competent authority has given a written notification of suspension of the complaint handling.

- The complaint has been closed according to a complaint handling decision in force.

- The complaint has been lawfully received or handled by the Court according to the Court’s decision or sentence, except the Court’s decision on suspension of resolution of the case.

(Article 9 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP)

Thanh Rin

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