On January 1st, 2022, the Law on Vietnamese employees working abroad under contracts ratified by the National Assembly of Vietnam on November 13th, 2020 will be official of full force and effect. Accordingly, several notable new points of this Law are as follows:
(1) Employees are entitled to unilaterally terminate the contract if being abused or sexually harassed:
According to point dd, Clause 1, Article 6, it clearly provides that: An employee may unilaterally terminate the contract when being abused or forced to work by the employer, or perceived of a clear and direct threat to life and health, or being sexually harassed while working abroad.
Moreover, employees working abroad are also entitled to the following additional rights: (i) To receive advice and support to exercise their rights and obligations and enjoy benefits in the labor contract, vocational training contract; (ii) Do not have to pay social insurance or personal income tax twice in Vietnam and in the working abroad country or territory if Vietnam and that country or territory have signed a treaty agreement on social insurance or double taxation; (iii) Get advice and support to have a job or start a business after returning Vietnam and to access voluntary psychosocial counseling services, etc.
(2) Supplementing and amending conditions for obtaining operating licenses:
Conditions to obtain the operation license to provide services for sending workers to work abroad under a contract have been modified by this new Law in Article 10. Accordingly, an enterprise needs to meet the following conditions:
(1) Having a charter capital of 05 billion VND or more, with the owner, all members and shareholders being domestic investors; (2) The legal representative must have at least 05 years of experience (compared to the current condition of 03 years) in the field of sending Vietnamese employees to work abroad under contracts or employment services; (3) Having a sufficient number of professional staff to carry out the activities of sending Vietnamese employees to work abroad under contracts; (4) Having facilities that meet the requirements of orientation education for Vietnamese employees to work abroad under contracts; (5) Having the own website, etc.
(3) Providing additional regulations on the list of prohibited working areas abroad:
According to Article 7.13, the Law has provided additionally a list of prohibited areas for working abroad or sending Vietnamese to work abroad: (1) Areas that are at war or in danger of chance of war; (2) Areas being contaminated with radiation; (3) Area contaminated with toxic; (4) Areas with dangerous epidemics.
(4) Employees do not have to refund brokerage fees:
The new Law has abolished the regulation that “Employees are responsible for refunding to service providers a part or all of the brokerage money as prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs” mentioned in Article 20.1 of the 2006 edition of this Law. As such, from the 2022 year onwards, Vietnamese employees working abroad under contracts will not need to refund brokerage fees to service providers, thereby helping employees reduce service costs when working abroad.
(5) Amending and supplementing regulations on brokerage contracts:
Supplementing the concept of a brokerage contract which is a written agreement between a service provider and an intermediary organization or individual on introducing a foreign employer to employ Vietnamese employees under a labor-supply contract in accordance with this Law (Article 22.1); substituting the concept of “brokerage money” with the concept of “remuneration under the brokerage contract” and stipulating that: “Remuneration under the brokerage contract shall be agreed upon by both parties and clearly stated in the contract but shall not exceed the ceiling level specified in Clause 3 of this Article” (Article 22.2).
Moreover, the Law also additionally provides a number of regulations related to the application of technology, digitization of information on migrant employees in state management, reform of administrative procedures through coordination, the communication exchange between agencies in charge of enterprise management.
The Law on Vietnamese employees working abroad under contracts will be of full force and effect as of January 01st, 2021.
Download the Legal update as a PDF here.
If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact Apolat Legal – An International Law Firm in Viet Nam.
This legal update is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice.
