What is a labor dispute? Rights and obligations of the two parties in labor dispute settlement in Vietnam

What is a labor dispute? Rights and obligations of the two parties in labor dispute settlement in Vietnam (Internet image) 

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

1. What is a labor dispute?

A labor dispute means a dispute over rights, obligations and interests among the parties during the establishment, execution or termination of labor relation; a dispute between the representative organizations of employees; a dispute over a relationship that is directly relevant to the labor relation.

(Clause 1, Article 179 of the Labor Code 2019)

2. Current types of labor disputes under the law in Vietnam

According to Article 179 of the Labor Code 2019, types of labor disputes include:

- Labor disputes between the employee and the employer; between the employee and the organization that sends the employee to work overseas under a contract; between the outsourced worker and the client enterprise.

- Right-based or interest-based collective labor disputes between one or several representative organizations of employees and the employer or one or several representative organizations of employees.

- A right-based collective labor dispute of rights means a dispute between one or several representative organizations of employees and the employer or one or several representative organizations of employees in case of:

+ Discrepancies in interpretation and implementation of the collective bargaining agreement, internal labor regulations and other lawful agreements;

+ Discrepancies in interpretation and implementation of labor laws; or

+ The employer’s discrimination against the employees or members of the management board of the representative organization of employees for reasons of establishment, operation or participation in the organization; the employer’s interference or influencing the representative organization of employees; the employer’ violations against amicable negotiation.

- Interest-based collective labor disputes include:

+ Labor disputes that arise during the process of collective bargaining;

+ A party refuses to participate in the collective bargaining or the collective bargaining is not held within the time limit prescribed by law.

Thus, according to the above regulations, there are two types of labor disputes: labor disputes between the employee and right-based or interest-based collective labor disputes

3. Rights and obligations of the two parties in labor dispute settlement in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 182 of the Labor Code 2019, rights and obligations of the two parties in labor dispute settlement include:

- During the labor dispute settlement process, the two disputing parties have the rights to:

+ Participate directly or through a representative in the labor dispute settlement process;

+ Withdraw or change the contents of the request;

+ Request for a change of the person in charge of labor dispute settlement where there reasonable grounds for believing that the said person may not be impartial or objective.

- During the labor dispute settlement process, the two parties have the responsibility to:

+ Promptly and adequately provide documents and evidence to support his/her request;

+ Abide by the agreement reached, decision of the arbitral tribunal, court judgment or decision which when it comes into effect.

4. Labor dispute settlement principles in Vietnam

- Respect the parties’ autonomy through negotiation throughout the process of labor dispute settlement.

- Prioritize labor dispute settlement through mediation and arbitration on the basis of respect for the rights and interests of the two disputing parties, and respect for the public interest of the society and conformity with the law.

- The labor dispute shall be settled publicly, transparently, objectively, promptly, and lawfully.

- Ensure the participation of the representatives of each party in the labor dispute settlement process.

- Labor dispute settlement shall be initiated by a competent authority or person after it is requested by a disputing party or by another competent authority or person and is agreed by the disputing parties.

(Article 180 of the Labor Code 2019)

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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