LABOR CODE

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10;

The National Assembly promulgates the Labor Code.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

The Labor Code provides labor standards; rights, obligations and responsibilities of employees, employers, employees’ representative organizations and employers’ representative organizations in industrial relations and other relations directly related to industrial relations; and state management of labor.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Vietnamese employees, apprentices, trainees, and other types of employee provided in this Code.

2. Employers.

3. Foreign employees who work in Vietnam.

4. Other agencies, organizations and individuals directly related to industrial relations.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

In this Code, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Employee means a person who is full 15 years or older, has the ability to work, works under a labor contract, is paid with wage and is managed and controlled by an employer.

2. Employer means an enterprise, an agency, an organization, a cooperative, a household or an individual that hires or employs employees under labor contracts; if the employer is an individual, he/she must have full civil act capacity.

3. Employees’ collective means an organized group of employees working for the same employer or in the same division within the organizational apparatus of an employer.

4. Representative organization of a grassroots-level employees’ collective means the executive committee of the grassroots-level trade union or the executive committee of the immediate higher-level trade union in a non-unionized enterprise.

5. Employers’ representative organization means a lawfully established organization which represents and protects the employers’ rights and legitimate interests in industrial relations.

6. Industrial relation means a social relation arising from the hiring or employment and wage payment between an employee and an employer.

7. Labor dispute means a dispute over rights, obligations or interests which arise between the parties in industrial relations.

Labor dispute comprises individual labor dispute between an employee and an employer, and collective labor dispute between an employees’ collective and an employer.

8. Right-based collective labor dispute means a dispute between an employees’ collective and an employer which arises from different explanations and implementations of the labor law, collective labor agreements, internal working regulations, and other regulations and lawful agreements.

9. Interest-based collective labor dispute means a labor dispute arising from the request of an employees’ collective for the establishment of new working conditions compared to those stipulated by the labor law, collective labor agreement, internal working regulations, or other regulations and lawful agreements reached in the negotiation process between the employees’ collective and the employer.

10. Forced labor means the use of force or threat to use force or other tricks to force a person to work against his/her will.

Article 4. State policies on labor

1. To guarantee the rights and legitimate interests of employees; to encourage agreements providing employees with conditions more favorable than those provided by the labor law; and to adopt policies which enable employees to purchase shares and make capital contributions for production and business development.

2. To guarantee the rights and legitimate interests of employers, to ensure lawful, democratic, fair and civilized labor management, and to promote their social responsibility.

3. To create favorable conditions for job creation, self-employment and vocational training and learning in order to acquire employment, and for labor-intensive production and business activities.

4. To adopt policies on the development and distribution of human resources; to provide vocational training, training, retraining and improvement of occupational knowledge and skills for employees, and give preferences for employees with high professional and technical qualifications meeting the requirements of national industrialization and modernization.

5. To adopt policies on labor market development and diversify types of linkage between labor supply and demand.

6. To guide employees and employers to hold dialogues and collective bargains to establish harmonious, stable and progressive industrial relations.

7. To ensure gender equality principles; to stipulate the labor regime and social policies to protect female employees as well as disabled, elderly and minor employees.

Article 5. Rights and obligations of employees

1. An employee has the following rights:

a/ To work, freely choose a job or occupation, to participate in vocational training and to improve occupational skills and suffer no discrimination;

b/ To receive a wage commensurate with his/her occupational knowledge and skills on the basis of an agreement reached with the employer; to receive labor protection and work in assured conditions of labor safety and labor hygiene; to take leaves according to the prescribed regime, paid annual leaves and enjoy collective welfare benefits;

c/ To form and join and participate in activities of trade unions, occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law; to request and participate in dialogues with the employer, implement democracy regulations and be consulted at the workplace to protect his/her rights and legitimate interests; and to participate in management activities according to the employer’s regulations;

d/ To unilaterally terminate the labor contract in accordance with law;

e/ To go on strike.

2. An employee has the following obligations:

a/ To perform the labor contract and collective labor agreement;

b/ To obey labor discipline and internal working regulations and follow lawful administration of the employer;

c/ To implement the laws on social insurance and health insurance.

Article 6. Rights and obligations of employers

1. An employer has the following rights:

a/ To recruit, arrange and manage employees according to the requirements of production and business; to perform commendation work and handle violations of labor discipline;

b/ To form, join and operate in occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law;

c/ To request the employees’ collective to have dialogue, negotiate and sign a collective labor agreement; to participate in the resolution of labor disputes and strikes; to exchange opinions with the trade union on issues related to industrial relations and improvement of the material and spiritual lives of employees;

d/ To temporarily close the workplace.

2. An employer has the following obligations:

a/ To perform the labor contracts, collective labor agreement and other agreements with employees, to respect the honor and dignity of employees;

b/ To establish a mechanism for and hold dialogue with the employees’ collective at the enterprise and strictly implement the regulations on grassroots-level democracy;

c/ To keep a labor management book and a wage book and produce them to competent agencies upon request;

d/ To declare the use of labor within 30 days from the date of commencement of operation, and report periodically on changes in the labor in the process of operation to the local state management agency of labor;

e/ To implement other provisions of law on labor, social insurance and health insurance.

Article 7. Industrial relations

1. Industrial relations between an individual employee or the employees’ collective and an employer must be established through dialogue, negotiation and agreement based on the principles of voluntariness, good faith, equality, cooperation and mutual respect for each other’s rights and legitimate interests.

2. Trade unions and the employers’ representative organizations shall, in collaboration with state agencies, facilitate the establishment of harmonious, stable and progressive industrial relations; supervise the implementation of the labor law; and protect the rights and legitimate interests of employees and employers.

Article 8. Prohibited acts

1. Discriminating on the basis of gender, race, skin color, social strata, marital status, belief, religion, HIV infection, disabilities or for the reason of establishing, joining trade unions and participating in trade union activities.

2. Maltreating employees and committing sexual harassment at the workplace.

3. Forcing labor.

4. Making use of apprenticeship or on-the-job training for the purpose of self-seeking and exploiting labor, or enticing or compelling apprentices or on-the-job trainees to carry out illegal activities.

5. Using employees who have no vocational training or national occupational skills certificates for the occupations or jobs which require employees who have received vocational training or national occupational skills certificates.

6. Enticing, promising or making false advertising to deceive employees or making use of employment services or the sending of labor to work abroad under contracts to commit illegal acts.

7. Illegally using minor employees.

Chapter II

EMPLOYMENT

Article 9. Employment and creation of employment

1. Employment is any income-generating laboring activity that is not prohibited by law.

2. The State, employers and the society have the responsibility to create employment and guarantee that all people with working ability have access to employment opportunities.

Article 10. The right of employees to work

1. To work for any employer in any location that is not prohibited by law.

2. To directly contact an employer or through an employment service institution in order to find a job that meets his/her expectation, capacity, occupational qualification, and health.

Article 11. The right of employers to recruit labor

An employer has the right to recruit labor directly or through employment service institutions and labor leasing institutions, to increase or reduce the number of employees according to production and business requirements.

Article 12. State policies in support of employment development

1. The State shall set a target number of newly created jobs in five-year and annual socio-economic development plans.

Depending on the socio-economic conditions of each period, the Government shall submit the national target program on employment and vocational training to the National Assembly for decision.

2. To formulate the unemployment insurance policy and policies to encourage self-employment and to assist employers who employ large numbers of employees who are female, disabled and ethnic minority persons.

3. To encourage and create favorable conditions for domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to invest in production and business development for employment creation.

4. To support employers and employees to seek and expand overseas labor markets.

5. To establish a National Employment Fund to provide concessional loans for employment creation and other activities in accordance with law.

Article 13. Employment programs

1. The People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities (below referred to as provincial-level People Committees) shall develop and submit local employment programs to the People’s Councils of the same level for decision.

2. State agencies, enterprises, socio-political organizations and social organizations and employers shall, within the scope of their respective tasks and powers, participate in the implementation of employment programs.

Article 14. Employment service institutions

1. Employment service institutions have the function of providing job counseling and placement services and vocational training to employees; supplying and recruiting employees at the request of employers; collecting and providing information about the labor market; and performing other tasks in accordance with law.

2. Employment service institutions include employment service centers and employment service enterprises.

Employment service centers are established and operate under the Government’s regulations.

Employment service enterprises are established and operate under the Law on Enterprises and must have a license to provide employment services granted by the provincial-level state management agency of labor.

3. Employment service institutions are entitled to collect charges and to tax reduction and exemption in accordance the laws on charges and taxes.