First, the competent authorities and persons responsible for settling individual labor disputes include: (i) Labor conciliators; (ii) Labor arbitration councils; (iii) People’s Courts. This article will analyze the process of settling individual labor disputes through these three mechanisms.
Note: Individual labor disputes must first be settled through the conciliation procedure conducted by a labor conciliator before being submitted to a Labor Arbitration Council or a Court, except in the following six cases where conciliation is not mandatory:
- Disciplinary dismissal or unilateral termination of the labor contract;
- Compensation for damages or severance allowance upon termination of the labor contract;
- Disputes between domestic workers and their employers;
- Disputes regarding social insurance as prescribed by the Law on Social Insurance, health insurance as prescribed by the Law on Health Insurance, unemployment insurance as prescribed by the Law on Employment, and occupational accident and occupational disease insurance as prescribed by the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene;
- Compensation for damages between workers and enterprises/organizations that send workers abroad under labor contracts;
- Disputes between outsourced workers and the outsourcing employer.
Settlement of individual labor disputes by labor conciliators
Within 05 working days from the date the labor conciliator receives the request for dispute settlement, the conciliator must complete the conciliation.
Both disputing parties must be present at the conciliation meeting. The parties may authorize another person to attend the meeting on their behalf. The labor conciliator is responsible for guiding and assisting the parties in negotiating a resolution.
- If the parties reach an agreement, the conciliator prepares a minutes of successful conciliation, which must be signed by both parties and the conciliator.
- If no agreement is reached, the conciliator may propose a conciliation plan. If the parties accept the plan, a minutes of successful conciliation is prepared and signed by the parties and the conciliator.
- If the conciliation plan is rejected or one party, despite being duly summoned twice, fails to appear without a legitimate reason, the conciliator prepares a minutes of unsuccessful conciliation, signed by the present party and the conciliator.
A copy of the minutes of either successful or unsuccessful conciliation must be sent to the disputing parties within 01 working day from the date of preparation.
Settlement of individual labor disputes by the Labor Arbitration Council
If one party fails to perform the agreements recorded in the minutes of successful conciliation, the other party has the right to request the Labor Arbitration Council to settle the dispute as follows:
- Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of the request, a Labor Arbitration Panel must be established to resolve the dispute.
- Within 30 days from its establishment, the Panel must issue a decision on dispute resolution and send it to the disputing parties.
Settlement of individual labor disputes by the Court
- If the Labor Arbitration Panel is not established within the prescribed time limit, or if it fails to issue a decision within the prescribed time limit, the parties have the right to request the Court to settle the dispute.
- If one party fails to comply with the decision of the Labor Arbitration Panel, the other party may also request the Court to settle the dispute.
Statute of Limitations for Requesting Settlement of Individual Labor Disputes
- The statute of limitations for requesting a labor conciliator to conciliate an individual labor dispute is 06 months from the date the disputing party discovers the act that they believe infringes upon their lawful rights and interests.
- The statute of limitations for requesting the Labor Arbitration Council to settle an individual labor dispute is 09 months from the date of discovery.
- The statute of limitations for requesting the Court to settle an individual labor dispute is 01 year from the date of discovery.
In cases where the requesting party can prove that due to force majeure events, objective obstacles, or other lawful reasons they could not file the request within the time limit, the period of such events or reasons shall not be included in the statute of limitations.
Legal basis: Articles 187, 188, 189, and 190 of the 2019 Labor Code.
