Female employee rights in Vietnam

What rights do female employees have in Vietnam?

In short, female employees in Vietnam are entitled to a paid daily menstrual break and a paid daily nursing break, limits on night work, overtime and long-distance travel in late pregnancy or while nursing, lighter duties for hazardous work, and strong protection from dismissal or discipline while pregnant, on maternity leave or nursing. These sit in Chapter X of the Labour Code 2019, mostly in Article 137 — headed “Maternity protection”.12

The rules apply to every employer in Vietnam regardless of size or ownership, and are separate from the social-insurance-funded maternity and paternity leave covered on the maternity and paternity leave page. They form part of the wider framework in Vietnam's labour law and employment contracts. The table below is the quick reference; each line is explained and sourced underneath.

Is there menstrual leave, and what are the nursing-break rules?

During menstruation a female employee is entitled to a paid 30-minute break on each working day, for at least three days a month, with the exact days agreed with the employer. The break counts as working time and is paid in full under the labour contract; if she prefers to keep working, she is paid extra for that time. This is often called “menstrual leave”, but it is a short daily break rather than whole days off.12

A female employee raising a child under 12 months old is entitled to a paid 60-minute break every working day — to breastfeed, express and store milk, or rest — again counted as working time at full pay.12 Both breaks are statutory minimums: an employer can be more generous in its internal rules, but it cannot pay them out instead of granting the time, or quietly drop them from a shift pattern. The 60-minute nursing break sits alongside — not inside — the daily rest break every employee gets, which is at least 30 minutes for a working day of six hours or more (45 minutes on a night shift).1

Can a pregnant employee be made to work overtime or night shifts?

No. An employer may not require a female employee to work at night, work overtime, or travel on long-distance assignments once she reaches the 7th month of pregnancy — the 6th month if she works in upland, remote, border or island areas — or while she is raising a child under 12 months old, unless she herself agrees. “Night” here means 22:00 to 06:00.1 In practice that agreement should be specific and freely given for the assignment in question, not a blanket clause signed in advance.

There is a parallel protection for physically demanding roles. If a pregnant employee does heavy, toxic or dangerous work, or any work that could affect her pregnancy, then once she notifies the employer she must be moved to lighter or safer duties, or have her working day cut by one hour — with no loss of pay, rights or benefits — until her child turns 12 months old.1 These limits change how a role can be rostered, so they matter most for shift work, field sales and manufacturing; the general caps on hours sit on the working hours and overtime page.

Can you dismiss or discipline a pregnant employee in Vietnam?

No, outside narrow exceptions. An employer cannot dismiss, or unilaterally end the contract of, an employee because she marries, is pregnant, is on maternity leave, or is nursing a child under 12 months. The only exceptions are narrow — for example where the employer that is a natural person dies or is declared by a court to be missing or deceased, or where the employer that is not a natural person ceases operation. And when such an employee's fixed-term contract expires, she must be given priority for a new contract.1

The protection goes beyond dismissal. Vietnamese law also bars any disciplinary action — reprimand, deferred pay rise, demotion or dismissal — while an employee is pregnant, on maternity leave, or raising a child under 12 months old; the employer can act only after that protected period ends, within the statutory time limits.1 Ending employment the wrong way is costly, so pair this with the general rules on terminating employees in Vietnam. Separately, a pregnant employee who has a doctor's confirmation that working would harm her pregnancy may herself end or pause her contract early, on giving the employer notice and the medical confirmation.1

How do these protections fit with maternity leave?

The protections on this page run before and after the leave itself, while maternity leave is the paid time off funded by the social-insurance fund. Maternity leave in Vietnam is six months, paid at 100% of the mother's average social-insurance salary, with an extra 30 days per additional child for a multiple birth, provided she contributed to social insurance for at least six of the 12 months before the birth.13 Fathers covered by social insurance get 5 to 14 days of paid paternity leave depending on the birth, to be taken within 60 days of it.3

In practice the protections and the leave interlock: the no-dismissal and no-discipline windows cover the pregnancy and the leave and continue while the child is under 12 months, and the nursing break begins when she returns to work. The full leave mechanics, who pays and the qualifying contribution are on the maternity and paternity leave page, and the fund behind the payments is explained under social insurance in Vietnam.

What must employers build into rosters and policy?

Most compliance failures here are scheduling failures, not bad intent — a night-shift rota or an overtime plan that was never adjusted for a pregnant or nursing employee. Four duties the Labour Code places directly on the employer shape the policy you need.

1. Track the protected windows

   Record the 7th-month-of-pregnancy date and each child's first birthday, so night work, overtime, long trips and the 1-hour reduction are applied and lifted at the right time.

2. Build the breaks into the shift

   Roster the paid 30-minute menstrual break and the paid 60-minute nursing break as working time, rather than expecting staff to claim them ad hoc.

3. Consult, and provide facilities

   Promote equal treatment in hiring, pay and training, consult female staff on decisions affecting them, provide proper bathrooms, and help with childcare — duties the Code places on every employer.

4. Freeze dismissal and discipline

   Suspend any exit or disciplinary process that would otherwise run during pregnancy, maternity leave or the under-12-months window.

Vietnamese law also commits the State to gender equality at work, to preventing sexual harassment, and to supporting working women, including tax incentives for employers who employ many women — a principle set in the Code, with the mechanics in the tax laws.1 For benefits and paid leave more broadly, see employee benefits in Vietnam and annual leave, part of our Vietnam employer guides.

How does EOR Vietnam keep you compliant?

As your employer of record in Vietnam, EOR Vietnam is the legal employer on the Vietnamese labour contract, so these duties sit with us and are built into the roster and the internal policy from day one — the protected windows are tracked, the paid menstrual and nursing breaks are scheduled as working time, and any exit or disciplinary step is held while a protection applies. You direct the work day to day; we carry the compliance.

Administering these female-employee protections is part of the standard service, with no separate charge. Our fee for a Vietnamese national is a flat US$149 per employee per month — the same figure regardless of salary, role or headcount, with no setup, onboarding, offboarding or payslip fees (as of October 2026); the full breakdown is on the EOR Vietnam cost page. The employee's salary and the statutory employer contributions are passed through at cost, and a refundable security deposit equal to two months of the employee's employment cost is held for the engagement and returned at the end, less any unpaid amounts. A foreign national who needs a Vietnamese work permit is quoted separately. To start, request a costed quote.