Tet bonus lower than the collective labor agreement signed
On March 3, the People's Court of Region 1 - Dong Nai received a lawsuit from the Executive Committee of the Grassroots Trade Union (CĐCS) of Tenma (HCM) Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Park, Tran Bien Ward, Dong Nai Province) regarding a dispute over bonuses lower than the collective labor agreement (TƯLĐTT).
According to the lawsuit: In the content of the CLA in Article 10, there is a regulation: "Based on the results of production and business activities and annual profits of the company, before the Lunar New Year each year, the company will reward all employees who are still working at least equal to 1 month's salary if they work for all years".
On December 25, 2025, because they did not see the company announce the Tet bonus level, employees at the company stopped working collectively to request an announcement of the Tet bonus level.
On January 20, 2026, the company's Board of Directors informed the grassroots Trade Union Executive Committee about the Tet bonus level of 0.7 months' salary based on the production and business situation in 2025. The grassroots Trade Union Executive Committee requested the company to reconsider the bonus level according to the Collective Labor Agreement to be at least equal to 1 month's salary.
On January 21, 2026, the company announced a Tet bonus plan for employees of 0.7 months' salary, paid by bank transfer on January 30, 2026.
Suing for company to reward at least 1 month's salary
Also according to the lawsuit, although dialogues have been organized many times between the company's Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the grassroots Trade Union and employees, in addition to the participation of agencies, departments and the Dong Nai Provincial Labor Federation, the company still unilaterally issued a notice that the bonus level is lower than the agreement signed between the two parties.
The Executive Committee of the grassroots Trade Union has taken opinions from workers and unanimously requested competent authorities to resolve labor disputes.
In the lawsuit, the Executive Committee of the Trade Union of Tenma (HCM) Vietnam Co., Ltd. proposed that the Court consider and resolve, forcing Tenma (HCM) Vietnam Co., Ltd. to pay Tet bonuses to employees at a level of at least 1 month's salary in accordance with the provisions of Article 10 of the Collective Labor Agreement that the two parties have signed.
Also according to the lawsuit, in 2022, through the collective negotiation process and collecting opinions from employees, representatives of the Executive Committee of the Grassroots Trade Union and the Company's Board of Directors signed a Collective Labor Agreement valid for 3 years from October 27, 2022 to October 27, 2025. Before the Collective Labor Agreement expires, the two parties are still continuing negotiations to re-sign a new Collective Labor Agreement.
Mr. Vu Ngoc Ha - Labor Law expert said: According to the provisions of Article 83 of the 2019 Labor Code: "When the collective labor agreement expires and the parties continue to negotiate, the old collective labor agreement is still allowed to be implemented for a period of no more than 90 days from the date the collective labor agreement expires, unless the parties have other agreements". At the time the company issued the Tet bonus notice, the two parties were in the negotiation phase, so the old collective labor agreement was still allowed to be implemented. The bonus level issued by the company is lower than the collective labor agreement, which is not appropriate.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet - Vice President of the Dong Nai Provincial Labor Federation also said: Immediately after the incident of Tet bonus not being in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement leading to collective work stoppage disputes occurred, the upper-level Trade Union coordinated with functional agencies to organize dialogues with the Company's Board of Directors and the Grassroots Trade Union Executive Committee, requesting early answers for employees.
The negotiation process has increased the Tet bonus level from 0.5 to 0.7 but it is still not guaranteed according to the Collective Labor Agreement that the two parties have signed. Therefore, the Provincial Labor Federation continues to coordinate to support grassroots trade unions in protecting the rights of union members and workers.
Tenma Co., Ltd. (HCM) Vietnam has about 500 employees.
The People's Court of Region 1 - Dong Nai will consider the lawsuit according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law and return the results on March 12, 2026.
