Labor Code of Vietnam 2012 - Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS

LABOR CODE

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

The National Assembly promulgates the Labor Code.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

The Labor Code specifies the labor standards; the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the employees, the employers, the labor representative organizations, the employer representative organizations in the labor relation and other relations directly related to the labor relation, the State management of labor.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. The Vietnamese employees, apprentices, interns and other employees specified in this Code.

2. The employers.

3. Foreign employees working in Vietnam.

4. Other individuals, agencies and organizations directly related to the labor relation.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

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

1. Employees are people from 15 years old and above, capable of working, working under labor contracts, receiving salaries and subject to the management of the employers.

2. The employers are enterprises, agencies, organizations, cooperatives, households and individuals hiring, employing employees under labor contracts. The individuals must be sufficiently capable of civil acts.

3. The labor collectives are organized collectives of the employees working for one employer or in one division under the organizational structure of the employer.

4. The internal labor representative organizations are the executive board of the internal Union or the executive board of the direct superior Union if the internal Union has not been established

5. The employer representative organizations are organizations legally established to represent and protect the lawful rights and interests of the employers in the labor relation.

6. Labor relation is the social relation occurring while hiring or employing, paying salaries between the employee and the employer.

7. Labor dispute is the dispute over the rights, obligations and interests arising in the labor relation.

The labor disputes include the personal labor dispute between the employee and the employer, and the collective labor dispute between the labor collective and the employer.

8. Collective labor dispute over rights is the dispute between the labor collective and the employer arising out of the inconsistent explanation and implementation of the law provisions on labor, the collective labor agreement, the labor regulations and other lawful agreements and regulations.

9. The collective labor dispute over interests is the labor dispute arising when the labor collective requests the establishment of new working conditions compared to the law provisions on labor, the collective labor agreement, labor regulations and other lawful agreements and regulations during the negotiation between the labor collective and the employers. 

10. Coercive labor is the use of force, the threat to use force or other tricks to coerce other people to work involuntarily.

Article 4. The State policies on labor

1. Ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of the employees; encouraging agreements that ensure more favorable conditions for the employees than that in the law provisions on labor; encouraging employees to purchase stocks and contribute capital to the production and business development.

2. Ensuring the lawful rights and interests of the employers, managing labor in a legal, democratic, equitable, civilized manner,  and enhance the social responsibilities.

3. Facilitating the employment creation, self-employment, vocational training and learning towards employment opportunities, facilitating the production and business that attract a lot of labor.

4. Planning the development and distribution of labor force; providing vocational training and skill improvement courses for employees, offering incentives to employees with great professional expertise that satisfy the modernization and industrialization requirements of the country.

5. Planning the labor market development, diversifying the means of connection between the labor supply and demand.

6. Guiding the communication and collective negotiation between employees and employers, building stable, progressive and harmonious labor relations.

7. Ensuring the gender equality; imposing labor regulations and social policies in order to protect female employees, disabled employees, elderly employees and underage employees.

Article 5. Rights and duties of employees

1. The employees are entitled to:

a) Work, independently select works, vocations, get vocational training and improvement without discrimination;

b) Receive salaries consistently with the vocational skills and grade on the basis of the agreement with the employer; receive work protection, work in safe and hygienic conditions; take official leave, paid annual leave and enjoy collective benefits;

c) Establish, join and participate in activities of the Union, professional organizations and other organizations as prescribed by law; request and participating in discussions with the employer, exercise the democratic regulation and get consultancy at workplaces in order to protect the lawful rights and interests; participate in the management under the regulations of the employer.

d) Unilaterally terminate the labor contract as prescribed by law;

dd) Be on strike.

2. The employees are responsible to:

a) Perform the labor contract and the collective labor agreement;

b) Observe the labor discipline, labor regulations and obey the lawful management of the employer;

c) Implement the law provisions on social insurance and law provisions on medical insurance.

Article 6. Rights and obligations of employers

1. The employers are entitled to:

a) Employ, arrange and manage labor according to the demand for production and business; commend and discipline for violations of labor discipline;

b) Establish, join and participate in the activities of professional organizations and other organizations as prescribed by law;

c) Request the labor collective to discuss, negotiate and conclude the collective labor agreement; participate in settling labor disputes and strikes; discuss with the Union about the problem in labor relations, improve the material and mental life of the employees;

d) Temporarily shut down the workplace.

2. The employers are responsible to:

a) Perform the labor contract, collective labor agreement and other agreements with employees, respect the honor and dignity of employees;

b) Establish the mechanism and discuss with the labor collective at the enterprise and strictly observe the internal democratic regulations;

c) Make the labor management book, salary book and present them at the request from competent agencies;

d) Declare the employment within 30 days as from starting the operation, periodically make and send reports on the change in the labor status during the operation to local State labor management agencies;

dd) Implement the law provisions on social insurance and law provisions on medical insurance.

Article 7. Labor relations

1. Labor relation between the employee or the labor collective with the employer is established through communication, negotiation and agreement in a voluntary, affable, equitable, cooperative manner, in which the lawful rights and interests are mutually respected.

2. The Union, the employer representative organizations shall join the State agencies in building the stable, progressive and harmonious labor relations, supervising the implementation of law provisions on labor; protecting the lawful rights and interests of employees and the employers.

Article 8. Prohibited acts

1. Discrimination by sex, race, social class, marital status, belief, religion, discrimination against HIV sufferers, disabled people or against the reasons for establishing, joining and participate in the Union activities.

2. Maltreatment of employees, sexual harassment at workplaces.

3. Coercive labor.

4. Exploiting vocational training and apprenticeship to make profit, exploit labor or entice, coerce the vocational learners, apprentices into committing unlawful acts.

5. Using untrained employees or employees without national vocational certificates to do the jobs that required trained employees or employees with national vocational certificates

6. Deceitfully enticing and advertising in order to cheat employees or exploiting the employment services to contractually send employees abroad to commit unlawful acts.

7. Illegally using underage labor.