Amending the Labor Law: Should the retirement age be flexible?
Some people think that the retirement age should be flexible so that employees can choose. However, this can also put businesses in a passive position.
One of the major issues in the amendment of the Labor Law is to increase the retirement age for both men and women. Currently, this issue is receiving many mixed opinions.
Ms. Do Thi Thuy Huong, member of the Board of Directors of Viettronics Company, said that the reality from enterprises shows that the group of manual workers do not want to increase the retirement age and the retirement age should be the same. Therefore, it is proposed that the retirement age should be flexible from the age of 55 - 60 and from 55 - 62. If the labor is heavy, workers can choose to retire early.
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| The issue of increasing the retirement age is receiving many mixed opinions. |
According to Ms. Pham Thu Lan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions (Vietnam General Confederation of Labor), retirement should be divided into occupations and flexible according to age brackets for workers to choose. The General Confederation also believes that the retirement age should move towards gender equality between men and women.
Ms. Pham Thu Lan commented that retirement according to such an age frame will promote the agreement and negotiation of employees. Therefore, this is a good idea that all parties should contribute to the Drafting Committee of the Labor Code to have a plan to increase the retirement age suitable for employees.
As a member of the advisory group for amending the Labor Law, Dr. Do Ngan Binh, Hanoi Law University, said that in the process of collecting opinions on amending the Labor Code, there were 5 outstanding issues with many conflicting opinions among the parties: Recruitment; wages; social insurance; overtime; development opportunities.
From a legal perspective, Dr. Do Ngan Binh believes that if the retirement age is flexible, it will be very difficult for businesses because they will be "suspended" during that period of time and will not know when the employees will retire. Therefore, the drafting committee of the Labor Code is proposing a plan to specifically define the retirement age.
Accordingly, the retirement age for female workers will increase from 55 to 60 years old and for male workers from 60 to 62 years old. This is a plan based on the fact that the current Labor Law stipulates that when the retirement age (55 for women and 60 for men) comes, the enterprise will terminate the labor contract and switch to another type of contract.
Meanwhile, Ms. Do Thi Thuy Huong said that the retirement age framework does not cause difficulties for businesses. The reason is that the adjustment in the retirement time frame (women from 55 to 60 years old and men from 60 to 62 years old) is based on the contract. Employers and employees can determine the retirement age in the contract based on needs and health.
According to the draft Labor Code proposed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the retirement age for men will be increased to 62 years old and for women to 60 years old, and will be implemented from 2021. Regarding the roadmap, the draft Labor Code (amended) will be submitted to the National Assembly for comments at the 7th session (meeting in May 2019) and approved at the 8th session (meeting in October 2019)./.