Find out now: What does a teacher’s annual leave include? How long is a teacher’s summer vacation? Do teachers get paid during summer vacation?
What is annual leave?
Annual leave or annual leave is a day when employees do not need to work but still receive full pay.
If an employee works for 12 months or more (*), the number of annual leave days will vary depending on the nature of the job, specifically:
- Employees working under normal conditions: 12 days of leave;
- Underage workers, disabled workers or workers doing heavy, dangerous or toxic work: 14 days of leave;
- Workers doing especially heavy, dangerous, toxic work: 16 days off.
If an employee works less than 12 months (*), the number of annual leave days will correspond to the number of months worked.
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(*) Working time for the same employer.
>> You may be interested in: Employees’ paid holidays.
Regulations on annual leave and paid leave for teachers
According to Circular 28/2009/TT-BGDDT amended and supplemented by Circular 15/2017/TT-BGDDT, working hours and annual leave of teachers at all levels are regulated as follows:
1. Regulations on working hours of teachers at all levels
➧ For primary school teachers – Total working time 42 weeks
- Teaching time and time for educational activities (*): 35 weeks;
- Time for study and training, improving qualifications: 5 weeks;
- Time to prepare for new school year: 1 week;
- School year summary time: 1 week.
➧ For middle school and high school teachers – Total working time 42 weeks
- Teaching time and time for educational activities (*): 37 weeks;
- Time for study and training, improving qualifications: 3 weeks;
- Time to prepare for new school year: 1 week;
- School year summary time: 1 week.
➧ For preparatory school teachers – Total working time 42 weeks
- Teaching time and time for educational activities (*): 28 weeks;
- Time for study and training, improving qualifications, scientific research and exploration, document development and some other related activities: 12 weeks;
- Time to prepare for new school year: 1 week;
- School year summary time: 1 week.
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(*) According to regulations on school year schedule.
2. Regulations on teachers’ leave (annual leave)
According to Clause 3, Article 5, regulations on working regime for general teachers issued with Circular 28/2009/TT-BGDDT, amended by Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular 15/2017/TT-BGDDT, teachers at all levels have annual leave including:
- Summer vacation;
- Lunar New Year holiday;
- Semester break;
- Other days off.
Details of each teacher’s leave regime are as follows.
➧ Teacher’s summer vacation
- Teachers at all levels have a 2-month annual summer vacation, including annual leave days according to the 2019 Labor Code;
- Teachers receive full salary and allowances (if any), such as: preferential allowance for teachers, special allowance for teachers, seniority allowance for teachers… during the 2-month summer vacation.
➧ Lunar New Year and semester break
Lunar New Year holidays and semester breaks will be regulated by the Minister of Education and Training.
➧ Other holidays
The principal will be responsible for arranging annual leave for teachers depending on the plan of each school year, the size, characteristics and conditions of each school.
In addition, if a teacher works for 5 years at an educational institution, the number of annual leave days will be increased by 1 day. This is a regulation on annual leave days increasing according to seniority as stipulated in Article 114 of the Labor Code. However, this additional number of annual leave days has been calculated in the 2 months of summer vacation of the teacher according to the above regulation.
3. Regulations on teachers’ paid personal leave
According to the provisions of Article 115 of the 2019 Labor Code, teachers will be entitled to paid leave and must notify the head of the working unit in some special cases such as:
- Marriage: 3 days off;
- Biological or adopted child gets married: 1 day off;
- Biological child, adopted child, spouse passed away: 3 days off;
- Death of biological father, biological mother, adoptive father, adoptive mother of oneself or spouse: 3 days off.
Regulations on unpaid leave of teachers
In addition, depending on each case, teachers can negotiate with the school (where they are working) to be allowed to take unpaid leave. That is, teachers still have the right to take unpaid leave but must have the consent of the head of the educational institution.
At the same time, cases of teachers taking unpaid leave include:
- Parents get married;
- Brothers and sisters getting married;
- Grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister passed away;
- Some other reasons if the teacher agrees with the head of the unit.
Currently, the law does not have any specific regulations on notification methods and forms of agreement, so teachers can use phone, email, text messages, etc. as long as they receive approval from the head of the unit.
Regulations on payment of unpaid leave days for teachers
According to Article 13 of the 2010 Law on Civil Servants, due to the nature of the profession, teachers cannot or find it difficult to use up all their annual leave days, so for days they do not take leave, they will be paid a corresponding amount.
However, as fdiinvietnam.com shared in the above content, teachers’ annual leave includes 2 months of paid summer vacation. At the same time, according to regulations:
- Payment for unused leave days is only applicable for a maximum of 12 days (*), not for the entire 2 months of summer vacation according to the teacher’s regime;
- The reason for not taking vacation days (ie not taking 12 days off during the 2-month summer vacation) is due to work requirements.
In short, teachers are entitled to 12 days of annual leave like a normal worker, but the annual leave is counted against the paid days off during the 2 summer months.
(*) Annual leave of an employee who has worked for 12 months under normal working conditions for an employer.
>> See more: What is paid sick leave?
7 notes on teachers’ annual leave
Teachers need to keep in mind the following notes to be able to receive full benefits of leave.
1. In case a teacher has not worked for a full month, if the total number of actual working days and the number of paid leave days exceeds 1/2 of the normal working days in the month (according to the labor contract), it is still considered a working month when calculating the number of annual leave days.
2. The entire working time at a public school is considered working time for calculating additional annual leave (according to seniority) if the teacher continues to work at another public school.
3. When taking annual leave before the salary payment date, teachers can receive an advance salary; the advanced amount must be at least equal to the salary for the days of leave.
>> See more: How to calculate salary for unused leave.
4. Teachers can negotiate with the employer (head of the educational institution) to combine leave days (maximum 3 years at a time) or divide them into several periods.
5. If the employer refuses a teacher’s leave request in violation of the law, he/she will be fined:
- From 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND for individuals;
- From 20,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND for organizations.
Questions related to regulations on teachers’ vacation and summer vacation
1. What is annual leave?
Annual leave (or annual leave) is a day when an employee does not need to work but still receives full pay.
>> Learn more: Employees’ paid holidays.
2. Do teachers get paid during summer vacation?
According to Circular 28/2009/TT-BGDDT amended by Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular 15/2017/TT-BGDDT, summer vacation is one of the annual leave regimes of teachers. Accordingly, teachers’ summer vacation lasts for 2 months. During the summer vacation, teachers still receive full salary and other allowances, if any, such as: seniority allowance for teachers, preferential allowance for teachers, etc.
3. Will teachers who do not take all their annual leave be paid?
Teachers’ annual leave (paid leave) includes: summer vacation, Lunar New Year holiday, semester break and some other holidays. Accordingly, teachers’ 2-month summer vacation includes annual leave according to the 2019 Labor Code.
From that you can understand, teachers who do not take all their annual leave still receive their full salary.
4. How many days off do teachers get?
Teachers’ leave days are as follows:
- Summer vacation: 2 months;
- Lunar New Year holiday: According to regulations of the Minister of Education and Training;
- Semester break: According to regulations of the Minister of Education and Training;
- Other days off: As directed by the principal or head of the educational institution.
5. How many days off are principals allowed to give teachers?
As fdiinvietnam.com shared in the article, the principal will be responsible for directing and arranging annual leave for teachers based on the scale, characteristics, conditions and plans of each school year.
That is, the principal has the right to allow teachers to take unpaid leave, depending on the reason and request of each teacher, without being limited by law to the number of days. However, when approving teachers to take unpaid leave, the principal must ensure that teaching work at the school is not affected as well as the salary regime for substitute teachers.
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