Transferring employees to other jobs with labor contracts for improper reasons, fined up to 14 million VND

Legal Consulting Department of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Clause 2, Article 17, Decree 283/2026/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the fields of labor, social insurance, and Vietnamese workers going to work abroad under contracts (effective from September 10, 2026) stipulates as follows:

2. A fine of between 3 million VND and 7 million VND shall be imposed on employers for one of the following acts:

a) Arrange employees to work in a location other than the workplace agreed upon in the labor contract, except for the cases specified in Article 29 of the Labor Code;

b) Not receiving workers back to work after the period of temporary suspension of the labor contract expires if the labor contract is still valid, unless the employer and the employee have other agreements or the law has other regulations;

c) Transferring employees to work other than the labor contract for improper reasons; term or without written consent from the employee as prescribed by law.

Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP stipulates the level of fines and principles of application for repeated administrative violations as follows:

1. The penalty level stipulated for administrative violations specified in Chapter II, Chapter III and Chapter IV of this Decree is the penalty level for individuals; except for cases specified in: Article 8; Article 9; Clause 3, Article 10; Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 19; Clauses 2, 4, Article 36; Clause 1, Article 37; Clauses 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 38; Clause 3, Article 42; Clauses 6, 11, Article 48; Article 49; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 50; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 52; Clause 4, Article 53 of this Decree is the penalty level for organizations. The penalty level for organizations is 2 times the penalty level for individuals.

Thus, from September 10, 2026, employers transferring employees to work other than the labor contract for improper reasons; within the term or without the employee's written consent may be fined up to 7 million VND for individuals and 14 million VND for organizations according to the above regulations.