NEW LABOR CODE: RETIREMENT AGE WILL BE INCREASED TO 62 FOR MEN, 60 FOR WOMEN

The retirement age of Vietnamese workers at normal working conditions will be raised to 62 for men by 2028 and 60 for women by 2035, according to the freshly-approved Labor Code.

The National Assembly on November 20 passed the Labor Code (amended), which consists of 17 chapters and 220 articles, defining labor standards, rights, obligations and responsibilities of employees, employers, employees’ representative organizations and employers’ representative organizations in industrial relations and other relations directly related to industrial relations and state management of labor.

The current retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women.

From 2021 and on, the retirement age will be increased by three months for a male employee at normal working conditions, and four months for a female employee annually.

An employee whose working capacity is reduced or subject to extremely heavy, dangerous, or hazardous working conditions, or working at disadvantaged areas may retire sooner but not five years less than the regulations, unless otherwise provided by laws.

Skilled laborers or some special cases may retire at older age but not more than five years than the regulations defined at clause 2, unless otherwise provided by laws.

According to the amended Labor Code, employees shall be entitled to fully paid days off for such holidays and festivals as Calendar New Year Holiday: 1 day (January 1 of the calendar year), Lunar New Year Holidays: 5 days, the Independence Day: 1 day (April 30 of the calendar year), Labor Day: 1 day (May 1 of the calendar year),  Commemorative Celebration of Viet Nam’s Forefather – Kings Hung: 1 day (the tenth of March of the lunar year) and the National Day: 2 days (September 2 of each calendar year and one day before or after September 2).

The Labor Code regulates working hours shall not exceed 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week. The employers shall have the right to determine the working hours on a daily or a weekly basis; in case of the weekly basis, the normal working hours shall not exceed 10 hours per day, but not exceed 48 hours per week. The State encourages employers to implement the 40-hour working week.

To ensure that the overtime hours of the employee shall not exceed 50% of the normal working hours in a day, in case of application of working regulation on the weekly basis, the total normal working hours and the overtime hours shall not exceed 12 hours in a day, and less than 40 hours in a month and the total of not more than 200 hours in a year.

Source: VGP