Guidance for businesses on handling remaining annual leave and paying employees' unpaid annual leave wages

After receiving official letters from businesses, the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) contacted the Department of Occupational Safety and received the following response:

Clause 3, Article 113 of the Labor Code stipulates: “In case of severance, job loss, but not taking annual leave or not taking all annual leave days, the employer shall pay wages for the days off".

Clause 1, Article 4 of the Labor Code stipulates that “…to encourage agreements to ensure employees have more favorable conditions than those prescribed by the labor law”.

Therefore, in the case where the employee has not taken annual leave or has not taken all annual leave days but not included in the mentioned statement in Clause 3, Article 113 above, the employer agrees to pay the salary for non-holiday days in a more favorable way, according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 4 of the Labor Code. What is not specified in the law and has specific instructions is not required to do, if done, it can be agreed upon between the employer and the employee.