Ministry of Labor seeks opinions on 9 days off for Lunar New Year 2019

Last weekend, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs consulted relevant ministries and branches about the 2019 Tet holidays.According to the proposal, Lunar New Year holiday is 9 days; New Year holiday is 4 days; and April 30 and International Labor Day holiday is 5 days.

For Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Labor has proposed two options: one is to take a day off before Tet and four days after Tet; the other is to take two days off before Tet and three days after Tet. Both have nine days off, from February 2 to February 10, or from December 28 of the year of Mau Tuat to January 6 of the year of Ky Hoi.

The reason for the long holiday is that the 5 days off for Tet according to the Labor Code all fall on working days (from Monday to Friday), plus two consecutive weekends.

On the occasion of New Year 2019, the Ministry of Labor proposed that civil servants and public employees work on Saturday (January 5, 2019) and take Monday (December 31, 2018) off, meaning 4 consecutive days off from Saturday, December 29, 2018 to Tuesday, January 1, 2019.

For the April 30 and May 1 holidays, the Ministry of Labor proposed two options. Option one is not to swap holidays, civil servants and public employees will have exactly two days off, including Tuesday (April 30) and Wednesday (International Labor Day, May 1).

The second option supported by the Ministry is to have 5 consecutive days off, from April 27, 2019 to May 1, 2019. Since Monday is a working day alternating between holidays, the Ministry proposes to swap the day off and work on Saturday (May 4, 2019). Thus, in the 5 days off, there are 2 weekend days off, one swap day off and 2 public holidays.

The Ministry of Labor affirms that, forThe subjects of the swap are civil servants and public employees of units with weekly days off on Saturday and Sunday, not applicable to businesses and citizens.

Civil servants and public employees whose normal work schedule includes Saturday will not be subject to the swap. The settlement of work serving businesses, workers and the people will therefore still be guaranteed.

According to Mr. Ha Tat Thang, Director of the Department of Labor Safety, this year the Ministry of Labor will consult with relevant ministries and agencies and announce the Tet holiday schedule earlier so that businesses such as airlines, railways, etc. can prepare plans to serve Tet. Businesses, organizations and people can arrange their holiday schedules early and proactively travel during these days.

In addition, according to the Prime Minister's direction, the Ministry of Labor must submit a plan for Tet holiday in June for the Government's approval, so the Ministry of Labor will consult with ministries and branches on these plans from April.

"We think that announcing the Tet holiday schedule early will be better and more convenient for people and businesses. This is a new point compared to previous years," said Mr. Ha Tat Thang.