4 new breakthrough regulations on labor contract and labor discipline taking effect on 15/12/2018
On October 24th, 2018, the Government promulgated Decree no 148/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of Decree no 05/2015/ND-CP defining and providing guidance on the implementation of a number of contents of the labor code. Accordingly, this Decree amends and supplements some articles related to labor contract and labor discipline.
Firstly, the decree amends the regulation on the subjects concluding labor contracts. According to the new regulation, instead of prescribing only family householders by default as before, the persons lagally authorized as the legal representatives by members of households, cooperative groups or other organizations not having legal status shall be a subject concluding labor contracts on the employer side. Additionally, the persons legally authorized in writing to conclude labor contracts by the legal representative specified in the regulations of the enterprises or cooperatives or by the head of the agencies, units or organizations, which have legal status as prescribed in law shall also be considered as a subject concluding labor contracts on the employer side. Thus, the subjects concluding labor contracts are expanded.
Secondly, The Decree amends and supplements some regulations on labor contracts contents with a view to decreasing contracts drafting process and hastening agreement process. Accordingly, such contents as: promotion and salary raise regulations, work time, rest time, personal protection equipments provided for employees, social insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance can now be agreed to proceed according to the regulations of the employer, labor regulations, collective labor agreements and regulations of the specialized law, without specifically being stipulated in contracts.
Thirdly, the Decree amends the regulation on labor contracts with elderly employees. Accordingly, when the employers has no need or the elderly employees are not healthy enough, both parties shall "agree to terminate” the labor contracts instead “terminate” the labor contracts as prescribed before.
Fourthly, the Decree amends the regulation on procedures for handling violations against the labor discipline. Specifically, the current procedures is divided into 2 cases:
- Case 1: Detecting the violations right at the time of the acts: The employers shall make minutes of the violations, notify the representative organizations of the labor collective at the grassroots level; parents, or the legal representatives in case of the employees under 18 years of age to conduct the meetings about handling violations against the labor discipline, then conduct the meetings. Currently, the employers only need to make sure that the written invitation notices are sent to the participants before conducting the meetings, without having to send the notices at least 5 working days prior to the meetings as before.
- Case 2: Detecting the violations after the time of the acts: When there are sufficient grounds to prove the employees' faults and within the statute of limitations, the employers notify about the handling violations against the labor discipline meetings to participants prescribed at Points b, c, Clause 1, Article 123, Labor Code including: The representative organizations of the labor collective; employees, parents, or the legal representatives in case of the employees under 18 years of age. Within 03 days from the date of receiving the notices, participants must confirm participation in the meetings, notify if not participating, if they do not confirm, or state improper reasons, or confirm participation without attending, the employers still conduct the meetings, without waiting until the written notices has been given at least 03 times as before.
The persons concluding labor contracts on the employer side shall be the persons entitled to make decisions on handling violations against labor discipline imposed on employees. The regulations on the persons concluding labor contracts have been amended as stated above.
Decree 148/2018/ND-CP comes into force on December 15th , 2018.
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