Your employee is entitled to receiving statutory holidays, paid time off and sick leave based on the Employment Law and the clauses in the employment contract.
Statutory holidays in Vietnam
- New Year’s Day (1st of Jan)
- Lunar New Year (Jan-Feb)
- Hung Kings Commemoration Day
- Reunification Day
- Labor Day
- Reunification Day Holiday
- Labor Day Holiday
- National Day
Paid time off in Vietnam
By the law, your employees are entitled to a minimum of 12 days of paid time off in Vietnam per year. The amount of annual leave is prorated based on how long they have worked – i.e. if an employee has been working for half a year they are entitled to up to 6 days off.
It is common to provide additional days off to your employees, especially if there are dates when the rest of the company is also not working. For example, if you are an Australian company, you might also want to give your Vietnamese employees a day off during the statutory holidays in Australia.
Sick leave
You don’t need to provide additional sick leave to your Vietnamese employees. They get their sick leave payments from the national Social Insurance department assuming they have a valid doctor letter.
An employee can take a sick leave for a maximum of 30 days per month or 180 days in total per year.
Some companies provide extra sick leave paid by the company as an employment benefit, for example for lighter illnesses that don’t require going to the doctor.
Parental leave
Parental leave for mothers
Your pregnant employees are entitled to take five days off for antenatal appointments (one day for each appointment). If your employees are located in remote areas, they might be eligible for 2 days off per appointment.
Post-partum, the mother is entitled to a 6-month parental leave. This can be shortened to four months if the employee agrees but they are not under obligation to do so.
In case of birth that requires surgery or twins, the mother is entitled to an additional 14 days off.
Parental leave for fathers
The fathers are entitled to the following parental leave in Vietnam:
- 5 working days with a normal birth of one child;
- 7 working days when the wife gives birth to a child requiring surgery or gives birth to a child under 32 weeks old;
- 10 working days for twins. Each additional child (e.g. triplets) is entitled to an additional three working days, up to a maximum of 14 working days.