1. Characteristics of Labor Disputes

Labor disputes are a type of dispute that arises in the unique field of civil life, specifically in the area of employment and labor utilization. According to Article 179(1) of the 2019 Labor Code (LC), “Labor disputes are disputes over rights and obligations, interests arising between parties in the process of establishing, performing, or terminating labor relations; disputes between labor representative organizations; disputes arising from relations directly related to labor relations.”

Compared to other dispute relations in the civil, commercial, and business fields, labor disputes have their own characteristics in terms of subjects, objects, and content of the dispute, specifically:

Regarding subjects: One party in a labor dispute is always the employee or the collective of employees, and the other party is the employer or another organization related to labor relations, such as social insurance agencies, enterprises, or public service organizations that send workers to work abroad under contract.

Regarding objects: The object of labor relations is the interest derived from the use of labor; in labor disputes, what the disputing parties aim to achieve is also the interest from the process of implementing labor relations.

Regarding the content of the dispute: The content of labor disputes involves disagreements and conflicts over the rights and interests of the subjects within the labor relations and must occur during the labor process. The rights and interests of the subjects are broad concepts, not limited to the determined rights and obligations in labor relations but also include related issues such as training, representative relations, compensation for damages, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and other arising benefits.

Labor disputes are divided into individual labor disputes and collective labor disputes. Individual labor disputes occur between an employee and an employer; between an employee and a business or organization that sends workers to work abroad under contract; between a leased employee and a leasing employer. Collective labor disputes over rights or interests occur between one or more labor representative organizations and an employer or one or more organizations of the employer. Collective labor disputes are further divided into two types: collective labor disputes over rights and collective labor disputes over interests.

The resolution of labor disputes is based on the regulations of the Civil Procedure Code, the Labor Code, the Social Insurance Law, the Civil Servants Law, the Employment Law, and other guiding legal documents.

Additionally, when resolving disputes over the establishment of labor contracts after the probationary period, reference should be made to Precedent No. 20/2018/AL. Specifically, in cases where the employer has sent a job invitation with specified terms of the labor contract and probationary period. If the employee has completed the probationary period as per the job invitation and continues to work without any other agreement with the employer, it must be determined that the employee and the employer have established a labor contract relationship.

2. Regulations on the Statute of Limitations for Requesting Resolution of Labor Disputes

• Statute of Limitations for Requesting Resolution of Individual Labor Disputes:

As stipulated in Article 90 of the LC, the statute of limitations for requesting a labor mediator to reconcile individual labor disputes is 06 months from the date of discovering the act that the disputing party believes has violated their legitimate rights and interests.

The statute of limitations for requesting the Labor Arbitration Council to resolve individual labor disputes is 09 months from the date of discovering the act that the disputing party believes has violated their legitimate rights and interests.

The statute of limitations for requesting the Court to resolve individual labor disputes is 01 year from the date of discovering the act that the disputing party believes has violated their legitimate rights and interests. If the requesting party can prove that due to force majeure, objective obstacles, or other reasons as prescribed by law, they could not make the request within the prescribed time limit, then the time with force majeure, objective obstacles, or such reasons is not counted towards the statute of limitations for resolving individual labor disputes.

• Statute of Limitations for Requesting Resolution of Collective Labor Disputes over Rights:

As stipulated in Article 194 of the LC, the statute of limitations for requesting a labor mediator to reconcile collective labor disputes over rights is 06 months from the date of discovering the act that the disputing party believes has violated their legitimate rights.

The statute of limitations for requesting the Labor Arbitration Council to resolve collective labor disputes over rights is 09 months from the date of discovering the act that the disputing party believes has violated their legitimate rights.

The statute of limitations for requesting the court to resolve a collective labor dispute concerning rights is one year from the date of discovery of the act that the disputing party believes to have violated their legitimate rights.

3. Conditions for initiating lawsuits and on-site conciliation procedures

• For individual labor disputes:

As stipulated in Article 188 of the Labor Code, individual labor disputes between employees and employers must go through the conciliation procedure of a labor conciliator. If the conciliation is successful but the parties do not comply or comply incorrectly, or if the conciliation is unsuccessful or the conciliation period expires as prescribed by labor law without the labor conciliator conducting conciliation, except for the following labor disputes which are not required to go through the conciliation procedure:

• Regarding disciplinary action in the form of dismissal or cases of unilateral termination of the labor contract;
• Regarding compensation for damages, severance allowances upon termination of the labor contract;
• Between domestic workers and employers;
• Regarding social insurance as prescribed by social insurance law, health insurance as prescribed by health insurance law, unemployment insurance as prescribed by employment law, occupational accident insurance, occupational disease insurance as prescribed by occupational safety and health law;
• Regarding compensation for damages between employees and enterprises or organizations sending workers to work abroad under contract;
• Between leased employees and the lessee employer.

In individual labor disputes where both parties agree to choose the Labor Arbitration Council for resolution but the arbitration panel is not established within the time limit prescribed by labor law, or the arbitration panel does not issue a decision to resolve the dispute, or one of the parties does not enforce the decision of the arbitration panel, they have the right to request the court to resolve the dispute.

In cases of individual labor disputes that are not required to go through the conciliation procedure, or in cases where the conciliation period for labor dispute conciliation by the conciliator as prescribed in Clause 2 of Article 188 of the Labor Code expires without the labor conciliator conducting conciliation, or in cases where conciliation is unsuccessful as per Clause 4 of Article 188 of the Labor Code, the disputing parties have the right to choose the Labor Arbitration Council or the court to resolve the dispute.

• For collective labor disputes concerning rights:

As prescribed in Clause 2 of Article 219 of the Labor Code, “Collective labor disputes concerning rights as prescribed by labor law that have gone through the conciliation procedure of a labor conciliator and have not been successfully conciliated, or the conciliation period expires as prescribed by labor law without the labor conciliator conducting conciliation, or one of the parties does not implement the successful conciliation agreement, have the right to request the court to resolve the dispute.”

Collective labor disputes concerning rights where both parties agree to choose the Labor Arbitration Council for resolution but the arbitration panel is not established within the time limit prescribed by labor law, or the arbitration panel does not issue a decision to resolve the dispute, or one of the parties does not enforce the decision of the arbitration panel, then they have the right to request the court to resolve the dispute.

• For labor disputes concerning interests:

Collective labor disputes concerning interests must be resolved through the conciliation procedure of a labor conciliator before requesting the Labor Arbitration Council to resolve the dispute or proceeding with strike procedures.

4. Acceptance and notification of case acceptance

In cases where the employee initiates a lawsuit, in addition to the petition, they must submit documents and evidence accompanying the petition including: Identity card, household registration book; documents related to the labor relationship such as: labor contract, vocational training contract, decision on disciplinary dismissal or decision to terminate the labor contract, minutes of the meeting considering disciplinary action against the employee, … minutes of unsuccessful conciliation by the grassroots conciliation council or labor conciliator for individual labor disputes (if any). In cases where the employer initiates a lawsuit, they must also submit additional documents and evidence regarding the legal status of the enterprise (such as investment license, business registration certificate, enterprise establishment decision; charter, labor regulations, minutes of the meeting considering disciplinary action against the employee, …).

The petition and evidence proving the claim must be sent to the court as prescribed in Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Code.

Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of the petition, the Chief Justice of the court assigns a Judge to examine the petition. The Judge must examine the petition and accompanying documents. Within 05 working days from the date of assignment, the Judge must make one of the following two decisions:

If the case falls within the jurisdiction of the court, then notify the payment of advance court fees if it falls within the case requiring payment of advance court fees, or proceed with the acceptance of the case; request amendments or supplements to the petition if it is found to be inappropriate.

Return the lawsuit to the plaintiff or transfer the case to another court of competent jurisdiction. In the event of returning the lawsuit and there is a complaint from the party concerned or a recommendation from the People’s Procuracy at the same level, the court must convene a meeting to consider the complaint or recommendation regarding the return of the lawsuit.

In the event that the court accepts the case, it shall notify the People’s Procuracy at the same level and the parties concerned within a period of 03 working days from the date of acceptance.