1. Does the company have to pay workers when they are out of work?

In case the company proactively lets the employee quit work when his/her job ends, it is considered a job stoppage due to no fault of the employee.

Based on Clause 3, Article 99 of the Labor Code 2019, if a job stoppage is due to economic reasons, the employee and the employer can agree on salary during the stoppage period and are not forced to pay salary according to the labor contract.

Thus, if the company runs out of work and proactively lays off workers, they still have to pay wages.

The salary paid during the leave period when the company stops working is determined according to the salary for stopping work specified in Clause 3, Article 99 of the Labor Code. As follows:

- Stop working for no more than 14 working days: Wages are agreed upon by the parties but cannot be lower than the minimum wage.

- Stop working for more than 14 working days:

Salary is agreed upon by the parties but must ensure:

- The salary for stopping work in the first 14 days is not lower than the minimum wage.

- Salary from the 15th day onwards is mutually agreed upon by the parties without any minimum or maximum limit.

If an employee stops working without paying or not paying enough of the employee's termination salary, the employer will be subject to an administrative fine of between 05 and 50 million VND, depending on the number of employees being suspended. infringe rights (according to Clause 2, Article 17, Decree No. 12/2022/ND-CP).

2. Can the company give employees unpaid leave to wait for work due to few orders?

According to the provisions of the Labor Code 2019, unpaid leave only applies to one of the following cases:

(1) The employee and the employer have an agreement on unpaid leave according to Clause 3, Article 115 of the Labor Code.

(2) Employees proactively request leave when their relatives get married or die according to Clause 2, Article 115 of the Labor Code.

(3) In case of work stoppage due to the employee's fault according to Clause 2, Article 99 of the Labor Code.

(4) When the two parties reach an agreement or an event occurs that falls under the circumstances requiring suspension of the labor contract according to Clause 2, Article 30 of the Labor Code.

With the above regulations,The company is not allowed to ask employees to take unpaid leave to wait for work because there are few orders.

At this time, if the company's financial situation is too difficult, the employer needs to proactively agree with the employee to take unpaid leave while waiting for work.

If the employee does not agree, the employer must still pay that person's severance pay.