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Managing employee leave in Vietnam can quickly become complicated, especially with the evolving labor regulations coming in 2026. Many HR teams struggle to understand which leave types are mandatory, how entitlements are calculated, and what changes they must prepare to stay compliant.
If you’re searching for a straightforward breakdown of Vietnam’s leave policies for 2026, this guide gives you exactly what you need: clear entitlements, updated rules, and practical steps to manage leave without risking compliance issues.
Here is a quick overview of what a full time employee in Vietnam typically enjoys by law, assuming they meet eligibility conditions:
Under Article 112 of the Labour Code 2019, employees in Vietnam are entitled to 11 public holidays with full pay every calendar year. For 2026, the gazetted public holidays are:
Employees who have completed 12 months of continuous service for the same employer are entitled to paid annual leave as follows:
Annual leave increases with long service. Under Article 114, employees receive 1 additional day of annual leave for every 5 years of employment with the same employer.
So an employee in normal conditions with 10 years of service would have at least 14 days of annual leave in total.
Sick leave in Vietnam is largely governed by social insurance rules rather than pure labour law. The 2024 Social Insurance Law, effective from 2025, sets out updated entitlements that apply for:
For employees in normal working conditions, the maximum annual sick leave entitlement covered by social insurance is:
For employees in heavy, hazardous, dangerous or especially hazardous jobs, the limits increase to 40, 50 and 70 days respectively.
Employees with certain long term illnesses on a Ministry of Health list may receive sickness benefits for up to 180 days per year, and sometimes longer at a reduced rate if they still require treatment.
Sickness allowance is usually paid at 75 percent of the salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions in the month before the leave.
From 2024 Social Insurance Law, effective 2025:
This applies per parent if both contribute to social insurance.
Allowance is again generally 75 percent of the social insurance salary.
If an employee has used all their annual sick leave and still has not recovered within 30 days of returning to work, they may be entitled to additional convalescence leave of 5, 7 or 10 days in a year, depending on the case.
For employers, this means:
Vietnam continues to offer one of the more generous maternity regimes in the region.
Female employees giving birth are entitled to:
Adoptive parents of a child under six months old are usually entitled to the remainder of maternity leave until the child reaches six months of age.
Fathers who contribute to social insurance are entitled to paternity leave when their spouse gives birth. The entitlement varies by situation, for example:
Paternity leave must usually be taken within 30 days from the birth date. It is funded by social insurance, and employees receive a salary based on their social insurance contribution salary.
As mentioned earlier, parents can take social insurance paid leave to care for sick children under 7 years old, up to 20 or 15 days per year per child depending on age.
Article 115 of the Labour Code grants paid personal leave for key life events.
Employees are entitled to fully paid leave in these cases:
In addition, employees are entitled to one unpaid day off in these cases:
Beyond this, employees may negotiate additional unpaid leave with their employer.
Outside the specific unpaid days above, Vietnamese law allows employers and employees to agree on additional unpaid leave for other reasons. There is no fixed legal maximum, but both sides must consent.
From a compliance perspective:
Managing employee leave in Vietnam can be challenging, especially with evolving regulations, strict documentation requirements, and variations in entitlements based on tenure or job conditions. An Employer of Record provider like Glints TalentHub can help streamline this complexity by setting up a fully compliant leave framework aligned with Vietnam’s Labor Code, ensuring accurate payroll integration, and keeping track of mandatory submissions and policy updates.
With the administrative burden lifted, your managers can focus on building stronger teams while your business maintains compliance and scales smoothly across Vietnam and the wider region.
This article is brought to you by Glints TalentHub. Leading companies are actively building their borderless teams in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and beyond. However, the prospect of going borderless can be daunting due to complex regulations and cultural ambiguities. With Glints TalentHub, you’ll have a dedicated team of in-market legal, HR, and talent experts by your side at every step of the way.
Glints TalentHub offers an end-to-end, tech-enabled talent solution that encompasses talent acquisition, EOR, and talent development. We empower businesses to leverage the strengths of regional talent efficiently to build high-performing, cost-efficient teams.
Schedule a no-obligation consultation with our experts to receive a tailored proposal today!
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