Balance to find with overtime reform in Vietnam

Balance to find with overtime reform in Vietnam

(Vietnam) Over the past year at least, enterprises have faced serious issues in business development and production, especially those in the seafood, footwear, or textile industries.
Realising these problems, the Vietnamese government has proposed to increase overtime hours for employees, which could contribute to stabilising production and business, as well as creating momentum for development.

The government has submitted that the number of overtime hours worked in a month by employees is no more than 72 hours (an increase of 80 per cent compared to the current regulation, which is no more than 40 hours); and the number of overtime hours in one year of employees is not more than 300 hours and is applicable to all business lines. According to current regulations, only in some industries such as textiles, leather, shoes, and seafood processing can employees work 200-300 overtime hours per year.

Impacts of the increase in overtime on the rights of employees

Firstly, the employee is considered to be in a weak position in the relationship with the employer. The regulation that overtime work does not exceed 40 hours in a month and 200 hours in a year (300 hours for some industries) is to avoid the case that the employer abuses and forces the employee to work too much overtime, which employees must agree to ensure their work.

From that, they may not have more time to rest. Therefore, increasing the overtime limit up to 72 hours a month will affect the employee’s rights for rest and recovery time.

Besides that, if the bill on increasing overtime hours is approved, the government should have regulations to strictly ensure the principle of agreement between employees and employers. This is because employees are always in a weak position in negotiating with employers, as well as ensuring a better working environment for employees to facilitate working overtime such as increasing wages or supporting nutritional shifts and accompanying policies.

Another impact on the rights of employees is overtime working for hazardous industries. The regulation on increasing the limit of overtime for such environments can seriously affect employees’ health and increase the possibility of occupational accidents. Therefore, it is still necessary to have regulations for these industries to ensure the rights of workers.

Last but not least, increasing the overtime limit could cause many other workers to lose their jobs. Indeed, by allowing skilled workers to work more hours, businesses can cut down many employees at many stages, thereby reducing labour costs, operating costs, and departmental expansion costs. Therefore, the government should have appropriate policies to ensure jobs for workers and avoid the case where too many workers lose their jobs.

Despite these impacts on workers’ rights, increasing the overtime limit is nevertheless a necessary and urgent solution for domestic employers but also for foreign-invested enterprises and employees.

The disruption of production and supply chains in the past two years has hamstrung many businesses. The increase in the limit on overtime hours helps businesses reduce human resources but still ensure production. Hence, if there are employees working overtime, businesses (especially foreign-invested groups in seafood, footwear, and electronics) can still ensure urgent orders without having to increase personnel.

This helps businesses become more proactive in arranging and making overtime plans depending on the current situation of the business in terms of raw materials and the labour force.

Secondly, this is also a proposal from the government based on the actual needs of employees, because the pandemic constraints mean most employees now want to work overtime to improve their incomes.

In general, this is a necessary and urgent policy to help businesses and employees prosper as well as recover production and supply chains. However, the government still needs to regulate strictly and appropriately to avoid the abuse of working overtime that affects the rights of workers.

ASL LAW is the top-tier Vietnam law firm for Anti-dumping & countervailing. If you need any advice, please contact us for further information or collaboration.

    CONTACT

    Your infomation


    ***Other service of ASL LAW – full service Vietnam law firm ***
    Retainer service to enterprises International trademark registration
    Oversea investment consultancy for Vietnamese enterprises Patent in Vietnam
    PCT Patent in Vietnam PCT Patent Vietnam Entry
    Intellectual property services (Vietnam IP Firm) Vietnam Patent Agent
    Trademark in Vietnam Vietnam Patent Firm
    Vietnam Trademark Agent Patent translation in Vietnam
    How to register trademark in Vietnam Vietnam Patent Translation Agent
    Copyright in Vietnam Vietnam IP Firm
    Vietnam Trademark Vietnam IP Agent
    Notes to company formation in Vietnam M&A
    How to open company in Vietnam Banking & financial services
    Open representative office in Vietnam Contract consultancy
    Establish company in Vietnam Employment and labor
    Corporate services in Vietnam Litigation and dispute resolution
    Vietnam Law Firm Franchise in Vietnam
    Vietnam Antidumping Law Firm Vietnam Franchise registration
    Vietnam countervailing law firm Vietnam Business Law Firm
    Vietnam Real estate law firm Vietnam construction law firm
    Law firm in Hanoi Law Firm in Ho Chi Minh
    Debt collection in Vietnam Debt recovery law firm in Vietnam
    Debt collection law firm in Vietnam Vietnam Debt Collection law firm
    ASEAN IP Agent ASEAN IP FIRM
    IP agent in ASEAN Establish R.O in Vietnam
    Setting up a foreign-invested company Setup foreign company in Vietnam
    Technology Transfer in Vietnam Technology Transfer services
    Labour law in Vietnam Employment law in vietnam
    Vietnam franchise law firm International trademark registration
    Contact Me on Zalo
    +84982682122
    WhatsApp chat