Overtime pay under Vietnam's 2019 Labour Code, with a worked example

Last month a noodle-shop owner in Binh Thanh asked us: “Our cook worked 3 extra hours on Sunday evening — is paying double right?” The short answer: almost, but it depends on whether Sunday is that cook’s weekly day off, and whether those hours ran past 10 p.m. This article walks through overtime pay under Vietnam’s 2019 Labour Code, with a worked example.

First: what counts as overtime?

Normal working hours are no more than 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week (Article 105). Overtime is any time worked outside the normal hours agreed in the contract or workplace rules (Article 107). If a contract says 6-hour shifts, hours 7 and 8 are already overtime.

Minimum overtime rates

Article 98 sets overtime pay at no less than:

• 150% on normal working days;
• 200% on weekly days off;
• 300% on public holidays and paid leave days — on top of the holiday pay itself for daily-paid staff.

Night work and night overtime

Night hours run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (Article 106):

• Night work earns at least 30% extra of the normal day rate.
• Overtime at night adds a further 20% of the applicable day rate on top of both.

A worked example

Nam, a barista on 30,000 VND/hour, normal shift 2–10 p.m.:

1. Wednesday, 2 extra hours (10 p.m.–midnight): 45,000 (150%) + 9,000 (night 30%) + 6,000 (night overtime 20%) = 60,000 × 2 = 120,000 VND.
2. Sunday, his weekly day off, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.: 30,000 × 200% × 4 = 240,000 VND.

Overtime limits

Overtime needs the employee’s consent and is capped (Article 107): no more than 50% of normal daily hours, 40 hours a month and 200 hours a year (300 in some sectors).

Common spreadsheet mistakes

• Not splitting out night hours.
• Assuming the shop’s Sunday is everyone’s day off.
• Copying last year’s holiday calendar.
• Overtime agreed verbally with no record.

Let the software split the hours

In CTAS Work you switch each overtime band on or off — weekday, day off, holiday, night — and set your own rates. Hours come from phone clock-ins, so each payslip already separates normal, overtime and night hours. Download CTAS Work and run it alongside your spreadsheet for a month.

For reference only, based on the 2019 Labour Code. Check the latest guidance for special cases.