The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed a five-year term for the appointment of civil servants to managerial positions. Upon completion of the term, a reassessment will determine whether reappointment is appropriate. The initiative aims to ensure regular screening and avoid the stagnation of leadership often caused by overly long tenures.

The revised draft Law on Public Employees introduces several new provisions to strengthen personnel management, develop a skilled workforce, and enhance discipline and professionalism within the public sector.

Public employees may work in the private sector under conditions

The draft law emphasizes the state’s commitment to building a public employee workforce that is ethical, professionally competent, and capable of adapting to evolving social demands. Public employees will receive ongoing training to improve their qualifications, governance capabilities, digital transformation skills, and ability to collaborate in public-private partnerships.

Notably, public employees may participate in professional activities in the private sector if not prohibited by law and if permitted by their employment contract. However, such engagement must not create conflicts of interest or violate ethical standards. Conversely, public non-business units are also allowed to hire high-quality human resources from the private sector to meet operational needs.

Compensation policies are to be fair, competitive, and performance-based. Public non-business units with independent revenue streams must develop internal expenditure regulations to guide additional income payments, aiming to enhance public service quality.

Clearer policies on appointments, dismissals, and resignations

According to the draft, civil servants can only be appointed to management roles through decisions by authorized entities. Upon receiving a new managerial appointment, they must relinquish any existing role unless otherwise stated in cases of dual responsibility.

The appointment term is set at five years, unless otherwise stipulated by sector-specific laws. Once the term ends, a decision must be made regarding reappointment. This mechanism is designed to facilitate regular evaluation and filtering, preventing the situation where officials “grow old in the position.”

The draft also provides for severance, unemployment benefits, or job loss allowances under legitimate circumstances such as the expiration of a contract without renewal, mutual termination agreements, resignation due to health reasons, or loss of legal capacity.

However, no severance benefits will be granted if the civil servant is dismissed for disciplinary reasons, unilaterally terminates the contract unlawfully, or is dismissed due to consistent failure to meet job requirements.

Performance-based pay and incentives for hardship areas

Public employees will receive salaries, bonuses, and other earnings based on job performance, output, and effectiveness, in line with the nation’s socioeconomic conditions, local realities, and institutional performance.

In addition to base salary, they are entitled to overtime pay, night shift allowances, travel expenses, bonuses, and other benefits as prescribed by law. Those working in mountainous, border, island, remote, ethnic minority, or hazardous areas will receive additional allowances and preferential policies to encourage long-term service in challenging environments.

A key update in the draft law is the allowance for public employees to engage in professional activities beyond their contracted hours, provided they remain within legal and contractual boundaries.

Public employees may sign contracts with other organizations, invest in, establish, or manage businesses, especially in fields related to commercialization of research, inventions, and digital technology. They may also be seconded to work at enterprises, scientific organizations, or universities for a set period while retaining their salary and other entitlements.

For those in leadership roles, external engagement must be approved by a competent authority. This flexible provision aims to maintain oversight while avoiding conflicts of interest.

In addition to clarifying permissible activities, the draft law expands the list of prohibited behaviors for public employees.

These include evading or shifting responsibility, fostering factions or internal division, abandoning posts, participating in strikes, spreading misinformation that harms the reputation of institutions, using professional activities to promote anti-government narratives or harm social values, misusing public assets, and engaging in discriminatory or offensive conduct toward others.

Vu Diep