Firstly, normal working duration (Article 105) must not exceed eight hours per day and 48 hours per week.

Employers have the right to regulate working hours per day or per week, but they must announce the time to employees. In case working time is regulated on a weekly basis, the total time must not exceed 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week.

The State recommends employers implement a 40-hour workweek.

Employers are responsible for ensuring a working hour cap when employees are exposed to dangerous or toxic factors in relevance to related technical standards.

Secondly, according to the Article 107, overtime hours are not normal working hours as committed in the laws, collective labour agreements or labour regulations.

The employers can only use workers for overtime working hours when the workers agree to the deal.

The employers also have the obligation to make sure that workers’ overtime hours must not exceed 50 per cent of the hours for their normal working day in a normal working week and cannot be over 12 hours a day, 40 hours a month and 200 hours a year, except for special cases regulated in Clause 3 of this article.

Thirdly, labourers who satisfy the conditions of social security payment under the provisions of law on social insurance are entitled to a pension after they retire.

Retirement of labourers working in normal conditions will be adjusted until they reach age 62 for men by 2028 and 60 for women by 2035.

Starting from 2021, the retirement age for men and women in normal working conditions will be 60 years old and 3 months for men, and 55 years 4 months old for women. Each year, the retirement age will be raised by 3 and 4 months for men and women, respectively.

Those working in heavy, hazardous and dangerous jobs, or in extremely disadvantaged regions, or having declined working capacity, can retire earlier than the prescribed age by a maximum of five years.

Highly-skilled workers and other special cases will be allowed to continue working a maximum of five years past the retirement age.

Fourthly, the revised Labour Code adds one more day to the National Independence Holiday. Workers will be entitled to another day off with full pay the day following or preceding the Independence Day (September 2) holiday – which so far has been observed as a one-day holiday.

Other holidays with full pay are New Year holiday on January 1, five-day Lunar New Year holiday, the South’s Liberation Day (April 30), May Day, and the Hung Kings’ death anniversary on March 10 of the lunar calendar.

The amended Labour Code has 17 chapters, 220 articles and will take effect from 2021./.