Raise the overtime ceiling to a maximum of 60 hours per month

On the afternoon of March 23, 100% of the members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly unanimously approved the resolution on the number of hours worked overtime in a year and a month for employees in the context of prevention and recovery and socio-economic development of Covid-19. The resolution takes effect from April 1, 2022 (specifically, the number of hours of overtime in a year from January 1, 2022), until the end of December 31, 2022.

Cases that do not apply to overtime include: Employees from full age 15 to under 18 years; people with mild disabilities experience a decrease in work capacity of 51% or more, severe disability or very severe disability; people who carry out heavy, dangerous or dangerous work or work or especially heavy, toxic or dangerous work; pregnant female employees since the 7th month or 6th month if working in highlands, remote areas, border areas or islands; female employees who take care of children under 12 months.

Before the National Assembly Standing Committee decided, the Minister of Manpower, Disabled and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung proposed increasing the number of overtime hours employees work in a month from no more than 40 hours to no more than 72 hours (1 time for 1 hour).8 times ). During the last inspection, the Ministry noted that due to the pressure of orders, some businesses directly negotiated with employees to increase overtime.

“This misguided act sometimes makes employees’ rights insecure, such as overtime wages on working days of at least 150%, weekly rest days of at least 200%, holidays and New Year’s Eve, paid holidays at least 300%. %,” said Mr. Dung.

Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), suggested raising the 72-hour drama ceiling due to the high number of workers infected with Covid-19. In just the first 23 days of March, more than 4 million workdays were lost due to workers being infected with Covid-19. “Companies have to put in every effort to place people, have to increase shifts to add crews to complete orders. This is not an incentive for business but to respond to Covid-19, because of the responsibility for economic recovery and development.” , said.

However, members of the DPR Panwaslu did not agree with this explanation. National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said he had not received any documents from associations or businesses requesting to increase the monthly overtime limit to 72 hours. “How many entrepreneurs whose orders can’t be on time, how many workers are infected with Covid-19?”, he asked.

The MPR leadership also stated that workers’ health was affected by the post-Covid-19 epidemic, while the right to increase overtime hours belonged to the MPR, the Standing Committee only had the authority to “be careful”.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Tran Quang Phuong also emphasized that Vietnam’s goal is to increase wages and reduce working hours. Companies want to increase productivity, they must improve technology. “The Covid-19 epidemic is an opportunity to change the growth model, if working hours are increased, who will apply science and technology to grow?”.

“Party and State leaders have also repeatedly insisted not to trade people’s health and lives for growth. This is a view that must be adhered to,” he said, emphasizing the provisions of the Labor Code. Set overtime hours for each day, week, month and year based on science.

Chairman of the Social Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said the process of accepting and adjusting the resolution and the overtime limit in a month received two kinds of comments. The first type (Social Committee) argues that raising the overtime ceiling in a month to no more than 72 hours is too high, while the formulation agency has not provided a convincing basis.

Therefore, the Committee proposes to increase the ceiling for overtime hours in a month from no more than 40 hours to no more than 60 hours. Correspondingly, companies are allowed to apply maximum overtime in a year from 200 hours to no more than 300 hours (150%). This opinion was also voted on by the General Confederation of Workers of Vietnam and the Women’s Union of Central Vietnam to ensure health, workforce regeneration and occupational safety for employees.

The second type of opinion agrees to raise the overtime ceiling in a month from no more than 40 hours to no more than 72 hours as reported by the Government and considers that this is a reasonable level in the current context. This is also the opinion of VCCI, Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Because there are two different types of opinions, the Komnas Special Committee has consulted with members of the MPR Special Committee. As a result, 13/18 people agreed with option 1; 5/18 people agreed with option 2. The Standing Committee of the Committee on Social Affairs accepted the opinion of the majority of the members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

“The epidemic, the pressure on family work and taking care of children is also great, so it is necessary to look at this issue comprehensively. Overtime hours increased to 60 hours per month is just a situation during the Covid-19 epidemic. ” Ms. Thuy Anh emphasized.

According to survey VnExpress on March 22-23, out of nearly 3,000 readers who answered, 45% chose to stick to the existing regulations, i.e. working no more than 40 hours per month, up to 200 hours per year; only 12% choose to increase to 56-60 hours per month, up to 300 hours per year, the rest are other options.

Hoang Thuy

at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here