Overview
• Working hours: Cambodian, Thai and Vietnamese legislation specify that employees are permitted to work a maximum of 8 hours per day and a maximum of 48 hours per week. In China and Lao PDR the legal working hours are 8 per day and a maximum of 44 per week.
• Days off : Employees are entitled to a minimum of one day off per week in Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
• Sick leave: In Cambodia, employees are entitled to up to 6 months sick leave with a valid doctor’s certificate, and in Lao PDR they are allowed up to 30 days with a certificate. Thai law allows employees to take up to 30 days sick leave with a valid doctor’s certificate, and unpaid sick leave for as long as they are sick. Vietnamese law stipulates that sick leave is allowed where the employee has a doctor’s certificate, and that the benefits the sick employee will receive depend on ‘the working conditions and the rate and period of social insurance contribution as determined by the Government’.
• Annual Leave: Employees are entitled to one and a half days of annual leave per month worked in Cambodia, and in China labourers are entitled to annual leave with pay after working for more than one year continuously. In Lao PDR, workers are entitled to 15 days (18 days where the worker is engaged in strenuous physical labour) annual leave per year, and in Thailand employees are entitled to at least six days annual leave during their first year of employment and more than six days the following year. Vietnamese workers are typically entitled to 12 days annual leave, 14 days for those employed in heavy and dangerous working conditions, and 16 days for those working in extremely heavy and/or dangerous conditions.
• Rest periods: Vietnamese workers have the right to take at least half an hour break per day (based on an 8 hour working day), and nightshirt workers may take at least 45 minutes with a 12-hour break between shifts. Laotian employees are entitled to take a 45-minute break per shift for shift work, and a break of at least 5-10 minutes after two hours of work. In Thailand, employees are entitled to a rest period of no less than one hour per day (so long as five hours have been worked consecutively) and a 20-minute break for overtime work of not less than two hours.
