Electronic means have played a crucial role in transmitting information and serve as the foundation for parties to establish transactions. Within the scope of labour law relations, the Labour Code recognised the method of concluding labour contracts through electronic means. In the following article, TNTP will present the basic content of electronic labour contracts to provide readers with an overview of this contract.
1. Definition
An electronic contract is a contract established in the form of data messages according to the provisions of the 2023 Electronic Transactions Law. Data messages are defined as messages created, sent, received, and stored by electronic means. Electronic means refer to methods operating based on electrical, electronic, digital, magnetic, wireless transmission, optical, electromagnetic, or similar technology.
An electronic labour contract is first and foremost an agreement between the employee and the employer regarding the job, working conditions, rights, and obligations of both parties in the labour relationship. Additionally, the content of the contract is created, sent, received, and stored through one of the electronic means such as phones, fax, email, etc., to establish the labour relationship. The parties execute the contract by using electronic signatures.
Clause 1, Article 14 of the 2019 Labour Code recognizes the validity of electronic labour contracts as follows: Labour contracts concluded through electronic means in the form of data messages under the provisions of electronic transaction law are as valid as written labour contracts.
2. Parties to the electronic labour contract
One of the conditions for the contract to be valid is that the parties involved must have the civil legal and civil act capacity. To prove that an electronic labour contract has legal validity, a special method is required to verify the capacity of the contracting parties. Currently, the parties’ capacity is identified through electronic signatures.
An electronic signature is a signature created in the form of electronic data, logically attached to or associated with a data message to identify the signer and express their consent to the content of the data message.
3. Legal validity of electronic signatures in electronic labour contracts
Currently, parties sign contracts using electronic signatures in three common ways: digital signatures, image signatures, and scanned signatures.
a) Digital signatures
A digital signature is considered a secure electronic signature if it meets the following conditions:
• Identifies the signer and confirms the signer’s consent to the data message;
• The data used to create the digital signature is uniquely linked to the approved content of the data message;
• The data used to create the digital signature is under the control of the signer at the time of signing;
• Any alterations to the data message after signing must be detectable;
• The digital signature must be ensured by a digital signature certificate;
• The device used to create the digital signature must ensure that the data used to create the signature is not disclosed, collected, or used for forgery purposes, ensuring the data used to create the digital signature can only be used once and does not alter the content of the data message.
At present, the application of digital signatures in electronic labour contracts is not feasible due to the limited number of employees possessing digital signatures.
b) Image signatures
The parties will insert an image of their signature into the electronic data file of the contract and send this file with the signature to the other party via email.
c) Scanned signatures
One party will print the contract, complete the signing, and scan the contract. The contract will then be converted into electronic form and sent via email to the other party. Scanned signatures are more commonly used than digital signatures, as they do not require authentication by a certified service provider.
Among the three methods mentioned, Vietnam’s electronic transaction law currently only recognizes the legal validity of an electronic labour contract when the parties sign it using a secure digital signature. Image signatures and scanned signatures are not specified in any legal documents, making it difficult to determine whether contracts signed using these methods have legal validity. Therefore, in the case of disputes resolved in court, the determination of the validity of contracts signed with images or scanned signatures will depend on the court’s perspective and the evidence presented by the parties.
4. Content of the contract
Similar to written labour contracts, the employer and employee must agree on basic content such as information about the employer and employee, the job and workplace, the terms of the contract, salary, payment methods, allowances (if any), working hours, labour equipment, types of insurance, etc., and other information according to the Labour Code.
When concluding an electronic labour contract, the parties must pay attention to the following elements: email addresses, information about electronic signatures, information security, etc.
The above is the article “Important information about electronic labour contracts” sent to readers by TNTP. If you have any questions, please contact TNTP for timely support.
Sincerely,
