Do businesses have to pay wages when asking employees to quit their job due to Covid-19?

My business is located in Da Nang. Currently, there have more than 200 employees working for my Company. With the current Covid situation, I am afraid that the city will continue to require social distancing and business closures. May I ask if, in this case, will my business have to pay wages to employees who are temporarily suspended from work? Sincerely thank you.

FDVN’s Opinions:

Wages paid to employees who quit their job due to Covid-19 are specified in Clause 3, Article 99 of the Labor Code 2019, specifically:

“In case of a suspension of work, the employee shall receive a suspension pay as follows:…

3. In case the suspension is caused by an electricity or water supply issue that is not at the employer’s fault, or by a natural disaster, fire, major epidemic, hostility, relocation requested by a competent authority, or for economic reasons, both parties shall negotiate the salary as follows:

a) If the suspension does not exceed 14 working days, the salary shall not fall below the statutory minimum wages;

b) If the suspension is longer than 14 working days, the salary shall be negotiated by both parties and the salary for the first 14 days must not fall below the statutory minimum wages.”

According to Article 91 of Labor Code 2019, statutory minimum wages vary according to regions. Districts in Da Nang city in Region II should apply the regional minimum wage of VND 3,920,000 as prescribed in Decree No. 90/2019/NĐ-CP.

At the same time, in case the enterprise faces difficulties in terms of raw materials and the market shares, leading to insufficient job placement, the employer can temporarily transfer the employee to another job different from the labor contract, according to the provisions of Article 29 of the Labor Code. If the prolonged work stoppage affects the enterprise's financial capacity, the employer and the employee may agree to suspend the performance of the labor contract as prescribed in Article 30 of the Labor Code. If the enterprise has to reduce production, leading to a reduction in workplaces, it shall arrange labor according to Article 36 or Article 42 of the Labor Code.

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