New rules to protect workers from abuse

Vietnamese workers

Employers who mistreat their staff could face fines of up to 75 million VND (3,234 USD) under a new Government decree to protect workers’ rights.

Decree 28/2020/ND-CP, which was issued early this week, stipulates that employers who temporarily transfer employees to do other jobs but fail to notify employees three days in advance, fail to clarify the duration of the temporary job, or providing jobs that are not suitable to the health and gender of the employee would be fined between 1-3 million VND (43-129 USD).

Employers who were found to send employees to work at different locations or different jobs compared to the signed labour contract without consent of employees would be given fines of between 3-7 million VND (129-301 USD).

The same fines would be given to those who refused to allow employees to return to work after the expiry of temporary suspension periods.

The decree stipulates that employers who were found to mistreat employees, but their acts were not serious enough to warrant legal proceedings would be fined between 50-75 million VND (2,150-3,230 USD).

It also stipulates the fines for breaching regulations on labour contracts.

Specifically, employers who fail to sign contracts with employees for jobs of more than three months or fail to sign the right labour contract with employees such as hiring employees to work as directors in State-owned companies would be fined between 2-25 million VND (86-1,078 USD).

Employers would be fined 20-25 million VND (862-1,078 USD) if found to keep originals of legal papers of employees while on duty, force employees to use their money or property to do their jobs or sign contracts with employees aged under 18 without the written consent of the legal representative of the employees.

The decree takes effect from April 15./.