Decree 145/2020/ND-CP in English: Vietnam labour rules

Full title: Decree detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Labour Code on working conditions and labour relations
Issued by: the Government, 14 December 2020, signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc
In force from: 1 February 2021 (Clause 1, Article 114)
Structure: 115 articles and 6 appendices
Implements: the Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14
Amended or reallocated by: Decree 35/2022/ND-CP (Clause 1, Article 73, amending Clause 2 of Article 4) and Decree 129/2025/ND-CP (Chapter VII, in force from 1 July 2025)
Official Vietnamese text: Official Gazette · Nos. 1203+1204 and 1205+1206, 28 December 2020

Note: this page is LexData’s own unofficial English summary of the main rules for employers. It is not the full text of the Decree or an official translation, and the appendices are not reproduced. The chapters on the National Wage Council, female employees, domestic workers and labour dispute resolution are not summarised. Only the Vietnamese text has legal effect.

Scope and structure

The Decree details the Labour Code articles listed in Article 1. It applies to employees, apprentices and trainees, employers and other persons involved (Article 2).

Chapter	Subject	Articles
II	Labour management	3–4
III	Labour contracts	5–11
IV	Labour leasing	12–36
V	Workplace dialogue and grassroots democracy	37–48
VI	Wages	49–57
VII	Working hours and rest periods	58–68
VIII	Labour discipline and material liability	69–73
IX	Female employees, gender equality, sexual harassment	74–87
X–XI	Domestic workers; labour dispute resolution	88–113

What has changed since 2020

Labour-use reports now go to the provincial Department of Home Affairs, with notice to the regional social insurance office, instead of the former labour department and district social insurance office (Article 71, Decree 129/2025/ND-CP, restating Clause 2 of Article 4 as amended by Decree 35/2022/ND-CP).
Registration of internal labour rules may be delegated to the Home Affairs office of the commune-level People’s Committee, instead of the district level named in Clause 5, Article 119 of the Labour Code (Article 67, Decree 129/2025/ND-CP).
Initial labour-use declaration: Decree 122/2020/ND-CP, cited in Clause 1 of Article 4, has been replaced by Decree 168/2025/ND-CP (Clause 2, Article 124). The provincial business registration office receives the declaration together with the company, branch or representative office registration (Clause 1, Article 81).

Decree 129/2025 ceases to have effect on 1 March 2027 unless the National Assembly extends it or a new instrument takes over earlier (Clause 2, Article 80). As at 28 September 2026, LexData has seen no extension or replacement. Employers should check the filing channel again before the 2027 reporting periods.

Many other articles of Decree 145 still name the former provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Those tasks now sit with the provincial Department of Home Affairs, for example:

receiving labour leasing licence files (Article 25);
receiving labour leasing reports (Clause 2, Article 31);
receiving notices of overtime above 200 and up to 300 hours a year (Article 62).

Legal basis:

Agency names in legal documents convert to the name of the agency that took over the function (Clause 1, Article 3, Resolution 190/2025/QH15). This rule is permanent and is not tied to the 28 February 2027 cut-off (Clause 2, Article 15).
The receiving agency carries on the former agency’s functions and tasks (Clause 1, Article 4, Resolution 190/2025/QH15).
The Department of Home Affairs advises the provincial People’s Committee on labour, wages, employment, social insurance and occupational safety (Clause 1, Article 8, Decree 150/2025/ND-CP).

At central level, the Ministry of Home Affairs manages labour under Decree 276/2026/ND-CP (in force 8 July 2026, replacing Decree 25/2025/ND-CP).

Labour management book and reports (Articles 3 and 4)

The labour management book must be set up within 30 days of starting operations, at the head office, branch or representative office, on paper or electronically (Clauses 1 and 2, Article 3). It records each employee’s identity, position, contract, social insurance, salary, leave, overtime, training, discipline, occupational accidents and termination (Clause 2). It must be updated from the employee’s first day and produced on request (Clause 3). Because it holds personal data, it is also subject to the Personal Data Protection Law.

Duty	Deadline	Where
Initial labour-use declaration	30 days from starting operations (Clause 2, Article 12, Labour Code)	Through the business registration filing (Article 81, Decree 168/2025)
Six-monthly labour change report	Before 5 June	Department of Home Affairs via the National Public Service Portal, Form 01/PLI; notice to the regional social insurance office
Annual labour change report	Before 5 December	As above; for staff in industrial parks and economic zones, also the zone management board

If the portal cannot be used, a paper report on Form 01/PLI may be sent instead (Article 71, Decree 129/2025/ND-CP).

Contracts in specific cases and notice periods (Articles 5–7)

A contract hiring a director of a company in which the State holds 100%, or more than 50%, of the charter capital or voting shares must cover the 12 items in Article 5. Its term is at most 36 months and, for a foreign director, no longer than the work permit (Clause 5). Where the State holds 50% or less, the general contract content in Clause 1, Article 21 of the Labour Code applies (Article 6).
Longer notice periods (Article 7) apply when either party unilaterally terminates the contract of: aircrew, aircraft maintenance and flight operations staff; enterprise managers under the Law on Enterprises (Clause 24, Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises 2020: the director or general director, members of the board of directors or members’ council, the company chairman and other managers named in the charter); seafarers working abroad or leased to foreign ships; and other cases set by law.

Contract type	Minimum notice (Clause 2, Article 7)
Indefinite term, or fixed term of 12 months or more	120 days
Fixed term of less than 12 months	One quarter of the contract term

The 120-day period also covers a foreign general director. It is much longer than the general periods in Articles 35 and 36 of the Labour Code.

Severance and job-loss allowance (Article 8)

Severance allowance is payable to an employee who has worked regularly for the employer for at least 12 months, when the contract ends under Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 or 10 of Article 34 of the Labour Code. It is not payable to an employee who qualifies for a pension, or who quits without good reason for 5 or more consecutive working days (Clause 1). The rate is half a month’s salary per year worked (Clause 1, Article 46, Labour Code).
Job-loss allowance (Clause 11, Article 34 of the Labour Code, meaning dismissal under Articles 42 and 43 for restructuring, technological change, economic reasons, or a merger, division or sale): one month’s salary per year, and at least 2 months’ salary even if the qualifying period is under 24 months (Clause 2).
Qualifying period = actual working time (including probation, employer-sponsored training, sick and maternity leave, stoppages not caused by the employee and suspension) minus time covered by unemployment insurance (including time for which the employer paid an equivalent amount with salary) minus time already compensated (Clause 3). Part-years of up to 6 months count as half a year; over 6 months count as a full year (Point c, Clause 3).
Salary base: the average contractual salary for the 6 months before termination; for successive contracts, the 6 months before the last one ends (Clause 5).
After a merger, division, sale or conversion: severance covers service before and after the event. If the employee later loses the job, the job-loss allowance covers service after the event and severance covers service before it (Point c, Clause 4). See corporate restructuring in Vietnam.

Invalid labour contracts (Articles 9–11)

Case	Remedy	If not remedied
Partly void (Article 9)	Amend the void part; if salary was below the legal level, agree a new salary and refund the difference for the time worked	Terminate and pay severance under Article 8
Wholly void because signed without authority or in breach of contracting principles (Article 10)	Re-sign; earlier terms apply if not below the law or collective agreement	Terminate and pay severance under Article 8
Wholly void because all content is unlawful or the work is prohibited (Article 11)	Sign a new, lawful contract	Terminate; pay an agreed sum of at least one month’s regional minimum wage per year worked

Time worked under a void contract still counts as service for labour benefits (Articles 9 and 10). Other disputes go to the courts.

Labour leasing (Chapter IV)

A labour leasing company needs a licence. Its legal representative must be an enterprise manager with no criminal record and 3 years (36 months) of leasing or labour-supply experience in the last 5 years, and the company must lodge a deposit of VND 2,000,000,000 (Article 21).
The Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee where the company has its head office issues, extends, re-issues and revokes licences (Article 22). Files go to the Department of Home Affairs (Article 25 names the former labour department). Decrees 128/2025/ND-CP and 129/2025/ND-CP did not change this power. A licence lasts up to 60 months and each extension up to 60 months (Clause 3, Article 23).
The leasing company reports on its activity on Form 09/PLIII:
- Six-monthly report: due before 20 June.
- Annual report: due before 20 December.
- Recipients: the provincial Chairman and the Department of Home Affairs where its head office is, and the Department of Home Affairs of any other province where it operates (Clause 2, Article 31).
Workers may be leased only for the 20 jobs in Appendix II (Article 30), such as interpreting, secretarial work, reception, sales support, driving, security guarding, cleaning, and finance and tax work.
The list of conditional business lines in Appendix IV of the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 (applied from 1 July 2026) does not list labour leasing. However, the licence and deposit rules in Article 54 of the Labour Code and Chapter IV of this Decree have not been amended or repealed. The Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting an amendment to Decree 145 that covers labour leasing. Check with the Department of Home Affairs before operating without a licence.

Workplace dialogue and grassroots democracy (Chapter V)

The Labour Code requires dialogue at least once a year, on request and when certain matters arise (Clause 2, Article 63). The Decree adds:

The employer side has at least 3 people, including the legal representative. The employee side has at least: 3 (under 50 employees); 4–8 (50 to under 150); 9–13 (150 to under 300); 14–18 (300 to under 500); 19–23 (500 to under 1,000); and 24 (1,000 or more) (Article 38). The list is fixed at least every 2 years. Where some employees are not union members, the employer must help them form a dialogue representative group (Article 37).
Periodic dialogue: the agenda goes out 5 working days ahead. The meeting needs the legal representative (or an authorised person) and more than 70% of the employee representatives, and the main points must be posted within 3 working days (Article 39). A request from the employee side needs the support of at least 30% of its representatives (Article 40).
Dialogue on specific matters is required for performance criteria, redundancies, labour-use plans, pay scales, bonus rules and internal labour rules (Clause 1, Article 41).
The employer issues workplace democracy regulations (Article 48) and holds an annual employees’ conference (Article 47). Employers with fewer than 10 employees are exempt from both (Clause 4, Article 114).
The Law on Grassroots Democracy No. 10/2022/QH15 (in force 1 July 2023) does not replace these rules for companies outside the State sector:
- Such companies follow the general rules in Chapter I of that Law and the labour-law rules on workplace democracy, that is Chapter V of this Decree (Clause 1, Article 82).
- They may also choose to apply the rules written for State-owned enterprises (Clause 2, Article 82).
- State-owned enterprises must also follow Section 1, Chapter IV of that Law.
- Its implementing Decree 59/2023/ND-CP mainly covers communes, villages and residential groups, and People’s Inspection Boards. It applies only to communes, State agencies, public service units and State-owned enterprises (Article 2), so it adds no duties for companies outside the State sector.

Overtime and night work (Articles 55–62)

Overtime pay is at least 150% (normal days), 200% (weekly rest days) or 300% (public holidays and paid leave days) of the actual hourly wage. The hourly wage excludes bonuses, meal allowances and fuel, phone and housing allowances (Article 55). Night work earns at least 30% extra. Overtime at night earns the 30% plus 20% of the daytime hourly rate for that day (Articles 56 and 57).
The employee must agree to the time, place and work, except in the cases in Article 108 of the Labour Code (Article 59).
Caps: overtime of no more than 50% of normal daily hours; where hours are set weekly, or for part-time work, normal hours plus overtime of no more than 12 hours a day; and no more than 12 hours on rest days and holidays (Article 60). The caps of 40 hours a month and 200 hours a year (300 in some sectors) are in Article 107 of the Labour Code.
200 to 300 hours a year: Article 61 adds further cases, including direct production and business work in companies whose normal hours are no more than 44 a week. The employer must give notice on Form 02/PLIV within 15 days of passing 200 hours (Article 62). The notice goes to the Department of Home Affairs (Article 62 names the former labour department) where the overtime takes place, and also where the head office is if that is in another province.

Content of internal labour rules (Article 69)

Every employer must have internal labour rules. With 10 or more employees, the rules must be in writing. With fewer than 10, written rules are optional, but discipline and material liability must be agreed in the labour contract (Clause 1). The rules must not breach the law and must cover nine areas (Clause 2):

Point	Area	What to specify
a	Working hours and rest	Daily and weekly hours; shifts and start and end times; overtime; breaks and shift changes; weekly, annual, personal and unpaid leave
b	Workplace order	Work areas and movement; conduct and dress; following assignments and transfers
c	Occupational safety and health	Safety procedures and fire prevention; personal protective equipment; hygiene and disinfection
d	Sexual harassment prevention	As required by Article 85 (see below)
dd	Protection of assets, trade secrets, technology secrets and IP	List of assets and secrets; protective measures; acts of infringement
e	Temporary transfer to other work	Business-need cases (Clause 1, Article 29, Labour Code)
g	Disciplinary offences and sanctions	Specific offences and the matching sanctions
h	Material liability	When compensation is due, how much, and who decides
i	Who may impose discipline	The person authorised to sign labour contracts (Clause 3, Article 18, Labour Code) or a person named in the rules

Before issuing or amending the rules, the employer must consult the grassroots employee representative organisation, if any, under Clause 1 of Article 41 (Clause 3). Once issued, the rules go to each representative organisation, are notified to all employees, and the key points are posted at the workplace (Clause 4).
The Labour Code bans discipline for conduct not listed in the rules, not agreed in the contract and not covered by labour law (Clause 3, Article 127), so the list under point g should be complete.

Registering the rules

Employers with 10 or more employees must file the rules within 10 days of issuing them with the provincial labour authority where the business is registered, now the Department of Home Affairs (Clause 1, Article 8, Decree 150/2025/ND-CP; Article 67, Decree 129/2025/ND-CP), which has 7 working days to require corrections (Article 119, Labour Code). The rules take effect 15 days after the authority receives a complete file (Article 121, Labour Code).
The commune level registers the rules only when the Department of Home Affairs has delegated this task (Article 67, Decree 129/2025/ND-CP, in force until 1 March 2027 unless extended). Ask the provincial department whether your locality has delegated it.

For help drafting or reviewing internal labour rules, see Vietnam employment law advice.

Disciplinary procedure (Article 70)

Finding the breach: if caught at the time, record it in minutes and notify the employee representative organisation the employee belongs to (and the legal representative of an employee under 15). If found later, gather evidence of fault (Clause 1).
Notice of the meeting at least 5 working days ahead, stating the subject, time, place, the employee’s name and the breach, sent to those who must attend under Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 122 of the Labour Code (Point a, Clause 2).
Confirmation: if someone cannot attend, the parties may agree a new time; failing agreement, the employer decides (Point b, Clause 2).
Meeting: if a required attendee does not confirm or is absent, the meeting still goes ahead (Point c, Clause 2). The minutes are adopted before the meeting closes and anyone refusing to sign is noted with reasons (Clause 3).
Decision: issued within the limitation period and sent to the attendees (Clause 4). The period is 6 months, or 12 months for breaches directly involving finances, assets or disclosure of technology or trade secrets (Clause 1, Article 123, Labour Code).

Damages and complaints (Articles 71–73)

Where an employee damages or loses property or overuses materials, the employer asks for a written explanation and holds a meeting with at least 5 working days’ notice (a price appraiser may attend). The decision must state the loss, its cause, the amount of compensation, and the deadline and method of payment (Article 71).
The limitation period is 6 months from the act, extendable by up to 60 days after the protected periods in Clause 4, Article 122 of the Labour Code (Article 72). Other damages follow the Civil Code (Clause 5, Article 71).
An employee who is disciplined, suspended or ordered to pay may complain or bring an individual labour dispute. After an unlawful dismissal, the employer must also meet its obligations under Article 41 of the Labour Code (Article 73).

Sexual harassment rules (Articles 84–86)

Sexual harassment covers quid pro quo demands (sex in exchange for work benefits) and sexual conduct that makes the workplace hostile or unsafe. It may be physical, verbal (including by phone or electronic means) or non-verbal (Article 84). The workplace includes seminars, training, business trips, meals, electronic communications, employer-arranged transport and employer-provided housing (Clause 3, Article 84).
The internal labour rules, or an appendix to them, must (Clause 1, Article 85): prohibit sexual harassment; describe harassing conduct to fit the job and workplace; set internal handling responsibilities, deadlines and procedures, including complaints; set sanctions for harassers and for false accusers; and provide compensation and remedies for victims.
Handling must be prompt and must protect the confidentiality, dignity and safety of the victim, the complainant and the accused (Clause 2, Article 85). The employer must train staff on the rules and act promptly on complaints (Clause 1, Article 86).

Entry into force and transition (Article 114)

In force from 1 February 2021, replacing earlier decrees such as Decree 05/2015/ND-CP (Clauses 1 and 2). Where a cited instrument is amended or replaced, the new one applies (Clause 7).
As at 28 September 2026, the Government had issued no decree amending or replacing Decree 145 since Decree 35/2022/ND-CP. LexData checked the decrees published in the Official Gazette up to Decree 360/2026/ND-CP. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ draft amendment has not been adopted. The draft covers reporting through the electronic labour contract platform, delegation to the commune level, registration of internal rules and labour leasing.
Employers may already use eContract to declare their workforce and file the labour-use reports under Article 4 (Point b, Clause 1, Article 19, Decree 337/2025/ND-CP).

Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP on working conditions and labour relations (English summary)