Stephen Le
The Visionaries – Reasons for caution
Is generative AI already being used in dispute resolution in your jurisdiction? Lawyers in Southeast Asia are a conservative bunch, reflecting a profession and culture that places a high premium on preparedness, sagacity, and adherence to precedent. No doubt, there are plenty of cautionary headlines globally that nudge us in the same direction. Simply put,…
Vietnam: Employee Service Contract Vs. Labor Contract: Is It Advisable For Business To Sign A Service Contract With An Individual? If So, Under What Conditions?
To avoid the obligations of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance towards their employees and avoid being subject to liability as provided by the labor law, many companies propose that their employees sign contracts to provide services instead of labor contracts. Is the signing of a service contract between a company and an employee…
Vietnam: Labour and Employment Comparative Guide
by Hannah Huynh 1 Legal framework1.1 Are there statutory sources of labour and employment law?The primary statutory source that governs labour and employment is the 2019 Labour Code. Other domestic sources include: • the 2013 Law on Employment;• the 2014 Law on Social Insurance;• the 2015 Law on Occupational Safety and Health:• the 2014 Law…
Employees’ Organizations at the Enterprise-level & Grassroots Trade Unions
In Vietnam, the ‘Trade union’ was the only organization dedicated to protecting employees’ legitimate rights and interests from the implementation of the first Labor Code in 1994 until the Labor Code of 2012 was enacted. Under the 2012 Labor Code, the term referring to trade unions was changed to “Representative organization of a grassroots-level employees’ collective”. However,…
Can WhatsApp Messages Be Used as Evidence
With so much of our lives online, what do we do when things go awry? Do our verbal agreements over messaging platforms like whatsapp count? Generally speaking, electronic evidence is less conclusive than traditional evidence (mainly paper documents). It is more difficult to prove the integrity of electronic evidence and more challenging to document enough…
You Have the Right to a Fair Trial
You have the right to a fair trial…that is if you are ever to be accused of crime. In fact your right to a fair trial is an internationally recognised human right which rarely makes for viral content (alongside other sexier declarations of human rights), but is nonetheless equally important. Ultimately, many people who are…
Legitimising Electronic Signatures
As cross-border transactions are becoming increasingly common, businesses and individuals are turning to electronic means to save time and costs. Instead of waiting for documents to be transported by courier around the globe, the relevant parties can finalize and execute their contract in a matter of seconds, in the comfort of their own base. The…
Preventing Conflicts of Interest
Conflict of interest A “Conflict of Interest” is defined as a real or seeming incompatibility between one’s private interests and one’s public or fiduciary duties (Black’s Law Dictionary – Ninth Edition). There is no statutory definition of conflict of interest under the laws of Vietnam. Actions constituting conflicts of interest are only indirectly regulated in the…
Enforcement of Foreign Courts’ Judgements and Arbitral Awards in Vietnam
Vietnam’s Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) provides that before any judgement, decision or foreign arbitral award of a foreign court or arbitration center (foreign court judgements or arbitral awards) to take effect in Vietnam, it is required to be approved by the Vietnamese Court and must be recognized and enforceable under the laws of Vietnam.…
There Is Always Some ‘Good’ in ‘Bad’ and Some ‘Bad’ in ‘Good’
Are you confused yet? Life is rarely straightforward. You can almost always find the “good” in bad circumstances and the “bad” in good circumstances….or people… or things. There is always a principle of yin and yang at play. Like anger. Anger in itself is not a bad emotion, even though we tend to categorize it…
What You Need to Know About Defamation and Bad-Mouthing in Vietnam
In the wake of the high-profile Amber-Depp defamation case, the world is still reeling from having first class seats to the “hottest” reality series of 2022…from the comfort of our homes no less. Much like how the public had gone through an express training on public health matters surrounding COVID-19, this time we saw millions…
Why Do We Need 43 Articles of Law on Cybersecurity in Vietnam?
We all want a healthy and safe cyberspace to play, work, learn and grow. Well…most of us anyway. The problem is that a small minority with ill intentions is enough to turn that ideal upside down. Which is why we need 43 articles of law to regulate this space. Organizations have become far more susceptible…