A worker skips a safety step in the operating procedure and has an accident. Many business owners think: their fault, not the company’s problem. Vietnamese labour law says otherwise: the company is never fully exempt — the worker’s fault only downgrades the payment from compensation to a subsidy; it never erases the duty.
1. Whosever the fault, core duties stay with the employer
Article 38 of the 2015 Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene does not let employers wash their hands when the worker was at fault. The company must still: provide prompt first aid; pay medical costs; keep paying full wages during treatment and rehabilitation; refer the worker for working-capacity assessment; and pay compensation or subsidy within 05 days of the assessment conclusion (Clause 7, Article 38). This reflects the protective spirit of labour law: an injured worker is always guaranteed minimum entitlements.
2. Compensation or subsidy: the investigation report draws the line
Clause 4, Article 38: an accident not entirely the worker’s own fault (occupational diseases included) → the company pays compensation: at least 1.5 months’ salary for 5–10% incapacity, plus 0.4 month’s salary per additional percent, and at least 30 months’ salary where the worker dies or loses 81%+ capacity. Clause 5, Article 38: an accident caused by the worker’s own fault → the company pays a subsidy of at least 40% of the corresponding compensation. Fault is determined by the work-accident investigation report — not by a foreman’s or director’s opinion. To apply the 40% subsidy, the company must prove the fault lay entirely with the worker.
3. Liability does not vanish; it shifts direction
A worker’s fault does not absolve management: where the company failed to train, supervise, or issue clear procedures, responsible managers may face Article 295 of the Penal Code 2015 on violations of occupational-safety rules where consequences are serious. Disciplining the violating worker (reprimand, deferred raise, dismissal under the Labour Code 2019) is a separate disciplinary matter — it neither replaces nor may be offset against work-accident compensation and subsidy duties.
4. Prevention: turn "worker fault" into proof of good management
Run periodic safety training with signed attendance records; issue written operating procedures and safety rules posted at workstations; supervise, remind, and consistently discipline every violation (keep minutes as proof of management). When an accident happens, these very records are what let the company prove the worker’s fault and apply the 40% subsidy instead of full compensation.
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This legal analysis has been verified against current Vietnamese regulations and cross-border FDI transaction practices by the attorneys at FLAT LAW FIRM.
