Salary changes from October 2017

In October 2017, many new policies related to labor and wages will come into effect.

New regulations on salary classification and civil servant promotion exams

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued Circular No. 05/2017/TT-BNV amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 11/2014/TT-BNV and Circular 13/2010/TT-BNV on professional standards, rank appointment and salary arrangement for administrative civil servant ranks and the organization of civil servant promotion exams.

Specifically, civil servants appointed to specialized administrative civil servant ranks prescribed in Circular 11/2014/TT-BNV shall apply the corresponding salary table attached to Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP of the Government on salary regime for cadres, civil servants, public employees and armed forces as follows:

- Apply Table 2 (Specialized and professional salary table for cadres and civil servants in state agencies) to civil servant ranks: Senior specialist rank applies to civil servants type A3 (group 1); Chief specialist rank applies to civil servants type A2 (group 1); specialist rank applies to civil servants type A1; officer rank applies to civil servants type A0; employee rank applies to civil servants type B.

- Apply Table 4 (Salary table for employees serving in state agencies and state-owned enterprises) to the agency driver staff category.

- Circular 05 also clearly stipulates the method of transferring ranks and salary classification for civil servants holding administrative specialized civil servant ranks (old) according to the provisions of Decision 414/TCCP-VC dated May 29, 1993 of the Minister - Head of the Government Organization and Personnel Committee (now the Minister of Home Affairs) on promulgating professional standards of administrative civil servant ranks to administrative specialized civil servant ranks (new) prescribed in Circular 11/2014/TT-BNV as follows: For senior specialist ranks, chief specialist ranks and specialist ranks, civil servants who have been appointed to a rank will continue to have their salaries classified according to that rank.

For the staff rank, civil servants who have graduated from college level suitable for the job position they are doing will be appointed to the (new) staff rank. If the salary is currently arranged according to the civil servant type A0 issued with Decree 204/2004/ND-CP, the salary will continue to be arranged according to that civil servant type A0; if the salary is currently arranged according to the civil servant type B issued with Decree 204/2004/ND-CP, the salary will be rearranged according to the instructions in Clause 1, Section II of Circular 02/2007/TT-BNV of the Ministry of Home Affairs guiding salary arrangement when upgrading ranks, changing types of civil servants, public employees...

The above Circular takes effect from October 1, 2017.

Enterprises must compensate for damages due to incorrect determination of net value of pension fund

This is the new content stipulated in Circular 86/2017/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of Decree 88/2016/ND-CP on the voluntary supplementary pension fund program effective from October 1, 2017.

Accordingly, in the case of investing in securities investment fund certificates of funds managed by pension fund management enterprises, pension fund management enterprises are only allowed to collect fund management fees once.

When a pension fund management enterprise incorrectly determines the net asset value of a pension fund, incorrectly determines the value of an individual pension account and causes actual damage to fund participants, it must compensate the fund participants for the damage according to the provisions of Article 23 of Decree 88/2016/ND-CP dated July 1, 2016.

The level of error that must be compensated for damages is specified in the regulations on determining the net asset value of the pension fund and determining the value of individual pension accounts, but not lower than 0.75% of the fund's net asset value.

Issuing work permits to foreigners online

This is the highlight content stipulated in Circular 23/2017/TT-BLDTBXH (effective from October 2, 2017) on guidelines for granting work permits to foreign workers (NLĐNN) working in Vietnam via the electronic network. Specifically as follows:

- At least 20 days before the expected date of using foreign workers, employers must fill in the declaration form and submit a report explaining the need to use foreign workers online.

- Within 5 working days from the date of receiving the declaration and application for a work permit, the work permit issuing authority will respond to the employer via email with the results. If the application is not suitable, it will request additional information.

- After receiving a response with a suitable application, the employer shall submit the original application for a work permit to the work permit issuing authority for inspection, comparison and storage according to regulations.

- The labor license issuing agency must return the result to the employer within no more than 8 working hours from the date of receiving the original application for a labor license.

New regulations on the timing of salary increase consideration for officers

On August 23, 2017, the Ministry of National Defense issued Circular No. 208/2017/TT-BQP guiding salary changes for officers, defense workers, defense officials, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers selected as professional soldiers. This Circular takes effect from October 10, 2017.

Accordingly, the regulations on the time for considering the next salary increase of the QNCN for officers have been changed compared to the current regulations in Circular 152/2007/TT-BQP dated September 25, 2007, specifically:

- The time for considering the next salary increase of the officer is calculated from the month and year of signing the Decision on promoting the officer's rank or raising the officer's salary.

- The current salary increase consideration time (according to Circular 152/2007) is determined based on the difference between the salary coefficient of the civil servant and the salary coefficient of the officer.

- In addition, Circular 208 also regulates salary transfer for selected defense workers.

This Circular takes effect from October 10, 2017.

According to VNN