On June 12, 2022, the Government issued Decree No. 38/2022/ND-CP (“Decree 38”) stipulating the minimum wage for employees working under employment contracts. Decree 38 officially took effect from 01/07/2022, replacing Decree 90/2019/ND-CP.
In addition to increasing the regional minimum wage, Decree 38 also has various remarkable updated contents for businesses, agencies, organizations, cooperatives, and employers.
1. Supplementation of the hourly minimum wage and instructions on the determination manner of the minimum wage applied to other forms of salary payment:
Accordingly, in addition to the monthly minimum wage, Decree 38 provided the hourly minimum wage to be applied to cases of hourly-paid employment contracts.
Simultaneously, Decree 38 also added the method for determining the minimum wage applicable to other forms of salary payment (weekly/daily/piece/payroll wages). Accordingly, the employer is entitled to convert to monthly or hourly manner but no less than the minimum monthly or hourly wage.
2. Changes in the list of areas in 4 regions where the minimum wage is applied:
There are numerous changes in determining the areas of the regions applying the minimum wage, particularly:
- Region I: Supplemented Ha Long city of Quang Ninh province (formerly in Region II)
- Region II: Supplemented a number of areas previously in Region III such as:
- Quang Yen and Dong Trieu town of Quang Ninh province;
- Hoa Binh city, Luong Son district of Hoa Binh Province;
- Vinh city, Cua Lo town, and Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen districts of Nghe An;
- Bac Lieu city of Bac Lieu province.
- Region III: Supplemented a number of areas formerly in region IV such as:
- Van Don, Hai Ha, Dam Ha and Tien Yen districts of Quang Ninh province;
- Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Do Luong, Nam Dan, Nghia Dan districts and of Thai Hoa and Hoang Mai towns of Nghe An province.
3. Non-discrimination on the application of the minimum wage between employees with different qualifications:
Previously, Decree 90/2019/ND-CP stipulated that the regional minimum wage was only applied to employees doing the simplest jobs. As for employees who have undergone vocational training (from intermediate to higher), the salary must be higher than at least 7% of the regional minimum wage.
Comment: