After much consultation and heated debate, Vietnam adopted a new
Labor Code on 20 November 2019 ("Labor Code"), which will
come into effect on 1 January 2021, and replace the current law
which dates from 2012. While Vietnam's labor legislation has
always been seen as employee-friendly and highly regulated, a
motivation for adopting the Labor Code was the need to ramp up
certain employee protections in order to meet labor standards
commitments given by Vietnam in recent new-generation free trade
deals such as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership. Conversely, the views of employers were canvassed
during the law's public consultation process, and as a result
some aspects of the Labor Code have been shaped in a more
employer-friendly manner. We discuss some of the key changes
introduced in the Labor Code below.
