Labor Code 2012

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.

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Chapter XVII

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 240. Effect of the Labor Code

1. This Code takes effect on May 1, 2013.

The June 23, 1994 Labor Code, Law No. 35/2002/QH10 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Labor Code No. 35/2002/QH10, Law No. 74/2006/QH11 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Labor Code, and Law No. 84/2007/QH11 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Labor Code cease to be effective on the date this Code takes effect.

2. From the date this Code takes effect:

a/ The signed labor contracts, collective labor agreements, and other lawful agreements and any agreements which are more favorable for employees than the provisions of this Code may continue to be performed.

Any agreements which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Code must be amended and supplemented;

b/ The duration of maternity leave provided in Law No. 71/2006/QH11 on Social Insurance must be implemented in accordance with this Code.

For female employees that take maternity leave before the effective date of this Code, if until May 1, 2013, they are still on maternity leave in accordance with Law No. 71/2006/QH11 on Social Insurance, the duration of their maternity leave complies with this Code.

3. Labor policies for cadres, civil servants, public employees, members of the People’s Army and People’s Public Security forces and other social organizations, and members of cooperatives comply with other laws but, depending on each category, some provisions of this Code may be applied.

The Government shall promulgate specific wage policies for application to cadres, civil servants, public employees and other members of the People’s Army and People’s Public Security forces.

Article 241. Effect with respect to employers with under 10 employees

Employers using under 10 employees shall comply with the provisions of this Code, but are entitled to a reduction of or exemption from a number of criteria and procedures as stipulated by the Government.

Article 242. Implementation detailing and guidance

The Government and competent agencies shall detail and guide articles and clauses as assigned in this Code.

This Code was passed on June 18, 2012, by the XIII^th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 3rd session.-