Question: What are regulations on working overtime as stipulated in the Labor Code 2019?

Answer:

The Labor Code 2019 stipulates cases that the employees are allowed to work over 300 hours/year, including: (i) Manufacturing, export processing of products of textiles, garments, leather, shoes, electricity, electronics, agricultural, forestry, salt, and aquatic products;

(ii) Production, supply of electricity, telecommunications, oil refining; water supply and drainage;

(iii) In the event job handling requires highly educated and qualified employees that the labor market is in short supply and unable to provide promptly or adequately;

(iv) In the case urgency is required to accomplish the necessary work in a short time frame; for example, due to the seasonal qualities of key ingredients and products, or resolving incidents arising from factors that cannot be predicted including weather disasters, calamities, fire disasters, lack of ingredients, or technical errors of a production line; and

(v) Other cases as stipulated by the Government.

In addition, the Labor Code 2019 also requires employers to notify in writing the provincial labor management authority of People’s Committee in case of working overtime 300 hours/year.

The increase of overtime working hours to 10 hours per month and not changing time limits and business lines used from 201 to 300 hours a year have not tackled completely the enterprises’ demands of overtime working hours yet./.