What should be done if the company does not pay a salary upon termination of the employment contract in Vietnam?

What should be done if the company does not pay a salary upon termination of the employment contract in Vietnam? (Internet image) 

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

1. Responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract in Vietnam

According to Article 48 of the Labor Code 2019, responsibilities of the parties upon termination of an employment contract are as follows:

- Within 14 working days following the termination of an employment contract, both parties shall settle all payments in respect of the rights and interests of each party. In the following cases, such period may be extended, but shall not exceed 30 days:

+ Shutdown of business operation of the employer that is not a natural person;

+ Changes in the organizational structure, technology or changes due to economic reasons;

+ Full division, partial division, consolidation, merger of the enterprise; sale, lease, conversion of the enterprise; transfer of the right to ownership or right to enjoyment of assets of the enterprise or cooperative;

+ Natural disasters, fire, hostility or major epidemics.

- Priority shall be given to payment of the employees’ salaries, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, severance allowance and other benefits under the collective bargaining agreement and employment contracts in case of shutdown, dissolution or bankruptcy of an enterprise or cooperative.

- The employer has the responsibility to:

+ Complete the procedures for verification of duration of participation in social insurance and unemployment insurance, return them and original copies of the employee’s other documents (if any);

+ Provide copies of the documents relevant to the employee’s work if requested by the employee. The employer shall pay the cost of copying and sending the documents.

Thus, except for cases where the time is extended according to the above regulations, the employer is responsible for paying the full salary to the employee who legally quits within 14 days from the date of termination of the employment contract.

2. What should be done if the company does not pay a salary upon termination of the employment contract in Vietnam?

If the company does not pay wages when quitting, employees can protect their rights and interests in the following ways:

- Sending a request directly to the company's board of directors requesting a salary settlement.

- In case the company refuses to settle or the employee does not agree with the company's settlement decision, based on Article 15 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, the employee should send a complaint to Chanh Thanh. Check with the Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, where the company is headquartered, for resolution.

In addition, based on Article 5 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, employees can sue in court if they fall into the following cases:

- When there are grounds to believe that the employer's decision or behavior directly infringes upon one's legitimate rights and interests, the person who is infringed upon shall sue in court.

- In case the complainant does not agree with the decision to resolve the first complaint or if the complaint is not resolved after the deadline, they have the right to sue in court.

3. What is the prescriptive period for complaints in Vietnam?

According to Article 7 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP, the statute of limitations for labor complaints is as follows:

- The statute of limitations for making a first-time complaint is 180 days from the date the complainant receives or learns of the decision or behavior of the employer, of organizations or individuals participating in vocational education activities, or of the Enterprises and non-business organizations that send Vietnamese workers to work abroad under contracts, employment service organizations, organizations related to job creation activities for workers, and assessment organizations. The price and issuance of national vocational skills certificates are complained about.

- In case the complainant cannot exercise the right to complain within the prescribed statute of limitations above because of illness, natural disaster, enemy sabotage, business trip, study in a far away place or because of other objective obstacles, the That delay does not count toward the statute of limitations for complaints.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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