Tiếng Việt
中文 (中国)
The National Assembly Standing Committee has just unanimously approved Resolution 17/2022/UBTVQH15 on increasing the number of overtime hours of employees. So, what are the detailed regulations on increasing overtime for employees from April 1, 2022, in Vietnam?
Resolution 17/2022/UBTVQH15 was issued to increase the speedy recovery of the economy of Vietnam, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic that has been ravaging the country for the last 2 years.
Effective from April 1, 2022, Resolution 17/2022/UBTVQH15 has increased the maximum overtime working hours for employees so that they can work extra time to earn more income to provide for their families.
The increase is large compared to the provisions of the Labor Code 2019 in order to meet the demand of production and business in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Previously, in the Labor Law 2019, the maximum number of overtime working hours in a month is 40 hours/month.
In Resolution 17/2022/UBTVQH15, the maximum number of overtime working hours in a month is 60 hours/month.
However, there is still a limit. The overtime according to the Labor Law applies to all cases, but the overtime according to Resolution 17 only applies to the case that the employer is allowed to employ the employee to work overtime for a maximum of 300 hours/year.
Increase overtime following a year by year standard
There is a change in the maximum number of overtime hours in a month but there is currently no change in the year-by-year provision.
This means that both Resolution 17/2022/UBTVQH15 and the Labor Code 2019 all apply the maximum of 300 overtime hours/year
However, according to Resolution 17, overtime work can only be made when the employer has a need and the employee agrees to work overtime.
The maximum number of overtime work in a year is applicable to all occupations but not to the following employees:
- Employees from full 15 years old to under 18 years old.
- The employee is a mildly disabled person with a working capacity decrease of 51% or more, a severe disability, or a particularly severe disability.
- Employees who do heavy, toxic or dangerous occupations or jobs or especially heavy, toxic, or dangerous jobs.
- Female employees who are pregnant from the 7th month or from the 6th month if working in the highland, remote, border, or island areas.
- Female employees who are raising children under 12 months old.
On the other hand, the current Labor Code 2019 stipulates that overtime work is only applicable to some of the following industries, professions, jobs, or cases:
- Manufacture, processing of textile, garment, footwear, electric, electronic products, processing of agricultural, forestry, aquaculture products, salt production;
- Generation and supply of electricity, telecommunications, refinery operation; water supply and drainage;
- Works that require highly skilled workers that are not available on the labor market at the time;
- Urgent works that cannot be delayed due to seasonal reasons or availability of materials or products, or due to unexpected causes, bad weather, natural disasters, fire, hostility, shortage of power or raw materials, or technical issue of the production
Important notes regarding the overtime policies
It should be noted that in both the Resolution and the Labor Code, although the labour law in Vietnam allows an increase in the number of overtime hours, the employer can only take advantage of overtime hours with the employee’s consent.
Another matter both employee and employer need to take into special consideration is the salary paid to the employees if he/she participates in overtime work.
Specifically, the employee will receive the following salary:
– Level 150%: Applied when working overtime on weekdays.
– Level 200%: Applied when working overtime on weekly rest days (Sunday and Saturday for some businesses).
– Level 300%: Applied when working overtime on holidays, New Year.
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