Vietnam'S New Labor Law: 8 Hours To Work! Still Raise Wages!

The new version of the labor law stipulates that the working hours should not exceed eight hours a day, and overtime time should not exceed three hundred hours in one year.

Yue Tong Hanoi, the eighth session of the Fourteenth Congress, adopted the labor law (Amendment) in November 20th, with the approval rate of 90.06%.

The labor law (Amendment) includes 17 chapters and 220 articles, which clearly stipulate labor standards; the rights, obligations and responsibilities of labourers, workers, representatives of laborers, organizations representing workers, and so on.

According to the labor law (Amendment) just passed by parliament, one year's statutory holidays include five days of the Spring Festival, one day of new year's day, one day of King's day, 4 to 30 liberation day of the south, 5 to 1 International Labor Day, two days of national day.

With regard to retirement age, the new version of the labor law stipulates that under normal working conditions, the retirement age of men and women workers has increased to 62 and 60 respectively.

The specific road map is that for male workers, the retirement age under normal working conditions is 60 years and 3 months in 2021, increasing by 3 months from 2021 to 2028. For female workers, the retirement age under normal working conditions in 2021 is 55 years, 4 months, and 2021-2035 years, increasing by 4 months each year.

With regard to the normal working hours, the new version of the labor law stipulates:

The working hours are not more than eight hours per day, and the average working hours are less than forty-eight hours per week. The state suggests that workers should practise a working hour system with an average laborer working hours forty hours per week.

In November 6, 2019, the government issued document No. 561st, which suggested that at present, the normal working hours stipulated in the existing laws should be maintained, and a roadmap to reduce working hours will be worked out in due course. The Standing Committee of the Congress accepted the government's proposal and instructed the government to reduce the working time to less than forty-eight hours per week according to the economic and social development.

With regard to the extension of the maximum overtime agreement framework, the worker can ask for overtime work with the consent of the worker. The number of overtime hours on the day can not exceed 50% of the normal working time of a day, and it can not exceed forty hours in one month, and not more than two hundred hours in a year.

In addition, workers in textile, clothing, leather and footwear, power and electronic products, production and processing of agricultural and forestry products, salt industry, aquatic products and other fields can not exceed three hundred hours in one year.