The Labor Law stipulates the period of time that employees must notify the company in advance when they want to unilaterally terminate their employment contract.

Legal ground:

• Labor Code 2019;
• Law on Employment 2013.

1. Notice period before quitting a job

Pursuant to Article 35 of the Labor Code 2019, employees have the right to unilaterally terminate their employment contract for any reason, as long as they comply with the regulations on notice period. Specifically:

For indefinite-term labor contracts:

• Special jobs (aircraft crew members, flight operations staff, business managers, crew members, etc.): At least 120 days’ notice.
• Remaining jobs: At least 45 days’ notice.

For labor contracts with a term of 01 to 03 years:

• Special work: At least 120 days’ notice.
• Other jobs: At least 30 days’ notice.

For labor contracts with a term of less than 01 year:

• Special work: At least ¼ of the term of the labor contract.
• Other jobs: At least 03 working days’ notice.

Special cases: Employees can quit immediately without notice if they are not assigned work according to the agreement, are not paid enough salary, are abused, forced to work, reach retirement age, etc.

2. Is it mandatory to work the full notice period before being allowed to quit?

According to Clause 1, Article 35 of the Labor Code 2019, employees have the right to unilaterally terminate the labor contract but must notify the employer in advance. If there is no other agreement, employees are required to comply with the regulations on notice period.

This means that the employee must work the full notice period before being allowed to quit. During the notice period, the employee is still guaranteed all legal rights and benefits such as salary, annual leave, holidays, Tet, etc.

However, if the employer agrees to let the employee quit before the notice period, the employee can quit earlier without having to work the full notice period.

3. Have to pay compensation if to quit before the notice period ends?

If an employee quits before the notice period ends without the employer’s consent, they will be considered to have unilaterally terminated the labor contract illegally.

Pursuant to Article 40 of the Labor Code 2019, the employee will have to compensate the employer as follows:

Compensation:

• Half a month’s salary according to the labor contract.
• The amount corresponding to the salary according to the labor contract corresponding to the days without notice.
• Refund of training costs if trained from the employer’s budget.

Lost benefits:

• No severance pay.
• No unemployment benefits (based on point a, clause 1, Article 49 of the 2013 Law on Employment).