Labourers work at a seafood factory in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang. — Photo thesaigontimes.vn

HÀ NỘI — Employers who mistreat their staff could face fines of up to VNĐ75 million (US$3,234) under a new Government decree to protect workers’ rights.

Decree 28/2020/NĐ-CP, which was issued early this week, stipulates that employers who temporarily transfer employees to do other jobs but fail to notify employees three days in advance, fail to clarify the duration of the temporary job, or providing jobs that are not suitable to the health and gender of the employee would be fined between VNĐ1-3 million ($43-129).

Employers who were found to send employees to work at different locations or different jobs compared to the signed labour contract without consent of employees would be given fines of between VNĐ3-7 million ($129-301).

The same fines would be given to those who refused to allow employees to return to work after the expiry of temporary suspension periods.

The decree stipulates that employers who were found to mistreat employees, but their acts were not serious enough to warrant legal proceedings would be fined between VNĐ50-75 million ($2,150-3,230).

It also stipulates the fines for breaching regulations on labour contracts.

Specifically, employers who fail to sign contracts with employees for jobs of more than three months or fail to sign the right labour contract with employees such as hiring employees to work as directors in State-owned companies would be fined between VNĐ2-25 million ($86-1,078).

Employers would be fined VNĐ20-25 million ($862-1,078) if found to keep originals of legal papers of employees while on duty, force employees to use their money or property to do their jobs or sign contracts with employees aged under 18 without the written consent of the legal representative of the employees.

The decree takes effect from April 15. — VNS