Strictly prohibit coercion, threats, and retaliation against workers
Recently, at some businesses, there is still a situation of organizing overtime with high frequency due to local labor shortages, labor fluctuations, and pressure on production and delivery progress. Some places arrange overtime for a long time, not ensuring rest time and health recovery for workers, and in some cases there are reflections on putting pressure and forcing workers to work overtime.
To promptly rectify, prevent violations, and protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of workers, the Standing Committee of the Hai Phong City Labor Federation requests businesses to urgently review the entire organization of overtime at units; compare with the provisions of law, internal labor regulations, collective labor agreements, salary regulations and related dossiers to promptly rectify.
The review must be associated with actual inspection of the arrangement of shifts, time tables, salary tables, overtime pay tables, lists of overtime registrations, forms for collecting opinions or confirming the employee's consent.
Businesses immediately stop arranging workers to work overtime exceeding legal regulations. Organizing prolonged and continuous overtime but without appropriate rest and health recovery solutions; production management leads to the situation of workers working overtime, not ensuring labor safety and hygiene.
According to current regulations, in addition to requiring the consent of employees, the total number of overtime hours must also ensure legal limits, in which the total number of overtime hours does not exceed 50% of the normal working hours in a day. In case of applying weekly working hours, the total number of normal working hours and overtime does not exceed 12 hours in a day; the total number of overtime hours does not exceed 40 hours in a month, except for special cases prescribed by law.
The organization of overtime must be carried out in accordance with legal regulations, in which there must be the consent of the employee, except for special cases as prescribed by law. The worker's opinion must be clearly stated, in accordance with the nature of voluntariness, specifically stating the time, location, and part-time work; it is not allowed to sign on behalf, sign for others, sign blank or legalize dossiers after violations arise. Article 59 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP clearly stipulates that the employee's consent must be expressed for the part-time time, part-time location and part-time work.
Businesses must absolutely not coerce, threaten, suppress, or directly or indirectly pressure employees to work overtime against their will; must not use refusal to work overtime against regulations as a basis to assess failure to complete tasks, cut bonuses, cut diligence, classify as unfavorable, transfer jobs inappropriately, discipline or threaten to terminate labor contracts. The act of forced labor is a prohibited act in the field of labor; violations may also be handled according to regulations on administrative penalties in the field of labor.
Ensuring regimes and health for workers
The City Labor Federation also requested businesses to fully implement the regime of overtime wages, night work, work on weekly holidays, holidays, Tet; ensure mid-hour rest, weekly rest, meals, safety conditions, occupational hygiene and care for workers' health.
Along with that, proactively coordinate with grassroots trade unions to organize dialogues at the workplace on production needs, labor arrangement plans, additional recruitment, shift arrangement, labor regulation between departments and solutions to reduce dependence on prolonged overtime. Dialogue at the workplace must be carried out substantively, publicizing the main content after the dialogue according to current regulations.
Grassroots trade unions proactively grasp the situation of organizing overtime at enterprises; promptly receive and summarize feedback and recommendations from union members and workers; directly exchange and propose to employers to rectify violations and protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of workers.
Along with that, strengthen supervision of compliance with regulations on working hours, rest hours, overtime wages, safety, and occupational hygiene; review and maintain channels to receive feedback from workers through the Executive Committee of grassroots trade unions, trade union groups, suggestion boxes or other appropriate forms. In case of detecting signs of serious violations or feedback on forced or coerced overtime, grassroots trade unions must immediately report to the City Labor Federation for monitoring, direction and coordinated handling; not to let cases drag on and accumulate into labor relations hotspots.
