What is the definition of “employer”? What are rights and obligations of employers in Vietnam?

What is the definition of “employer”?

Pursuant to the Labor Code in 2019 stipulating the definition of “employer” as follows:

Employer means an enterprise, agency, organization, cooperative, household or individual who employs other people under agreements. An employer that is an individual shall have full legal capacity.

Besides, it also stipulates that employee means a person who works for an employer under an agreement, is paid, managed and supervised by the employer.

What are rights and obligations of employers in Vietnam?

An employer has the rights to:

- recruit, arrange and manage and supervise employees; give commendation and take actions against violations of internal labor regulations;

- establish, join and operate in employer representative organization, occupational associations and other organizations in accordance with law;

- request the representative organization of employees to negotiate the conclusion of the collective bargaining agreement; participate in settlement of labor disputes and strikes; discuss with the representative organization of employees about issues related to labor relations and improvement of the material and spiritual lives of employees;

- temporarily close the workplace;

- exercise other rights prescribed by law.

An employer has the obligations to:

- implement the employment contracts, collective bargaining agreement and other lawful agreements with employees; respect the honor and dignity of employees;

- establish a mechanism for and hold dialogue with the employees and the representative organization of employees; implement the regulations on grassroots-level democracy;

- Provide basic training and advanced training in order to help employees improve their professional skills or change their occupations;

- implement regulations of laws on labor, employments, vocational education, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational safety and health; develop and implement solutions against sexual harassment in the workplace;

- Participate in development of the national occupational standards, assessment and recognition of employees’ professional skills.

The right of an employer to unilaterally terminates the employment contract

An employer shall have the right to unilaterally terminate an employment contract

a) The employee repeatedly fails to perform his/her work according to the criteria for assessment of employees’ fulfillment of duties established by the employer. The criteria for assessment of employees’ fulfillment of duties shall be established by the employer with consideration taken of opinions offered by the representative organization of employees (if any);

b) The employee is sick or has an accident and remains unable to work after having received treatment for a period of 12 consecutive months in the case of an indefinite-term employment contract, for 06 consecutive months in the case of an employment contract with a fixed term of 12 – 36 months, or more than half the duration of the contract in case of an employment contract with a fixed term of less than 12 months.

Upon recovery, the employer may consider concluding another employment contract with the employee;

c) In the event of a natural disaster, fire, major epidemic, hostility, relocation or downsizing requested by a competent authority, the employer has to lay off employees after all possibilities have been exhausted;

d) The employee is not present at the workplace after the time limit specified in Article 31 of this Labor Code;

dd) The employee reaches the retirement age specified in Article 169 of this Labor Code, unless otherwise agreed by the parties;

e) The employee is not present at work without acceptable excuses for at least 05 consecutive working days;

g) The employee fails to provide truthful information during the conclusion of the employment contract in accordance with Clause 2 Article 16 of this Labor Code in a manner that affects the recruitment.

The employer shall inform the employer in advance

When unilaterally terminating the employment contract in any of the cases specified in Point a, b, c, dd and g Clause 1 of this Article, the employer shall inform the employer in advance:

a) at least 45 days in case of an indefinite-term employment contract;

b) at least 30 days in case of an employment contract with a fixed term of 12 – 36 months;

c) at least 03 working days in the case of an employment contract with a fixed term of less than 12 months and in the cases stipulated in Point b Clause 1 of this Article;

d) The notice period in certain fields and jobs shall be specified by the government.

Notice: When unilaterally terminating the employment contract in the cases mentioned in Point d and Point e Clause 1 of this Article, the employer is not required to inform the employee in advance.

Best regards!