Circular No. 04/2005/TT-BNV guiding the implementation of the seniority allowance beyond the ceiling for civil servants, public officials, and employees

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing the System of Seniority Allowances Exceeding the Ceiling

for Officials, Civil Servants, and Public Employees

Pursuant to Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on the salary system for officials, civil servants, public employees, and military personnel; after exchanging opinions with the Ministry of Finance and relevant ministries and sectors, the Ministry of Home Affairs provides guidelines for implementing the system of seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling for officials, civil servants, and public employees as follows:

I. SCOPE AND OBJECTS

1. Scope and Objectives

1.1. Officials, civil servants, and public employees who are classified under the specialized, vocational, administrative, and service pay scales working in state agencies from central to commune, ward, town levels and in state-run institutions, including:

a) Election officers in state agencies from central to district, county, city under province levels who are classified under administrative civil servant ranks and enjoy leadership position allowances;

b) Officials, civil servants, and public employees classified under specialized, vocational, administrative, and service pay scales (including judicial and prosecution sector specialized positions and appointed leadership positions) working in state agencies and in state-run institutions;

c) Civil servants at commune, ward, town levels.

1.2. Officials, civil servants, and public employees within the state establishment and classified under specialized, vocational, administrative, and service pay scales prescribed by the State, who are assigned to work in associations, non-governmental organizations, projects, and international organizations based in Vietnam.

2. Non-applicable Subjects:

2.1. Senior experts.

2.2. Officials holding leadership positions within the scope of enjoying salaries according to the position pay scale that have been classified according to term of office.

II. CONDITIONS AND STANDARDS FOR ELIGIBILITY TO RECEIVE SENIORITY ALLOWANCES

Officials, civil servants, and public employees specified in Point 1, Section I of this Circular, if they have reached the highest grade in their civil servant or public employee rank (hereinafter referred to as "rank") or in their specialized position currently held, shall be eligible for seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling when they meet the required time period for holding the highest grade in their rank or position and meet the standards for receiving seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling as follows:

1. Time period for holding the highest grade in the rank or position currently held:

1.1. The time period for holding the highest grade in the rank or position currently held to be eligible for seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling is stipulated as follows:

a) Officials, civil servants, and public employees who have held the highest grade in their civil servant or public employee rank from type A0 to A3 of Tables 2 and 3 prescribed by Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government and in their specialized positions in the judiciary and prosecution sectors as prescribed by Resolution No. 730/2004/NQ-UBTVQH11 dated September 30, 2004 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for three years (36 months).

b) Officials, civil servants, and public employees who have held the highest grade in their civil servant or public employee rank types B and C of Tables 2 and 3 and administrative and service staff classified under Table 4 prescribed by Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government for two years (24 months).

1.2. Cases that are counted and not counted towards the time period for eligibility for seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling are determined as the cases counted and not counted towards the time period for eligibility for regular grade increase stipulated in Point 1.2 and Point 1.3, Section II of Circular No. 03/2005/TT-BNV dated January 5, 2005 of the Ministry of Home Affairs guiding the implementation of the regular grade increase system and early grade increase for officials, civil servants, and public employees (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 03/2005/TT-BNV).

2. Standards for Eligibility to Receive Seniority Allowances Exceeding the Ceiling:

The standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling are implemented as the two standards for regular grade increase stipulated in Point 2.1 and Point 2.2, Section II of Circular No. 03/2005/TT-BNV throughout the time period for holding the highest grade in the rank or position currently held or during the year for additional seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling.

III. LEVELS OF SENIORITY ALLOWANCES AND METHODS OF PAYMENT

1. Amount of allowance:

1.1. Officials, civil servants, and public employees who meet the time period and standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling stipulated in Point 1 and Point 2, Section II of this Circular shall receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling as follows:

a) Officials, civil servants, and public employees specified in Subpoint a, Point 1.1, Section II of this Circular, after three years (36 months) of holding the highest grade in their rank or position, shall receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling equal to 5% of the salary of the highest grade in their rank or position; from the fourth year onwards, each year meeting the two standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling will be entitled to an additional 1%.

b) Officials, civil servants, and public employees specified in Subpoint b, Point 1.1, Section II of this Circular, after two years (24 months) of holding the highest grade in their rank, shall receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling equal to 5% of the salary of the highest grade in their rank; from the third year onwards, each year meeting the two standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling will be entitled to an additional 1%.

1.2. When officials, civil servants, and public employees transfer from old pay grades to new pay grades according to Joint Circular No. 01/2005/TTLT-BNV-BTC dated January 5, 2005 of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of the transfer from old pay grades to new pay grades for officials, civil servants, and public employees, if the new pay grade already includes seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling, then the time period for holding the old pay grade used as the basis for transferring to the new pay grade will be counted towards additional seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling according to the principle that for each year holding the old pay grade while meeting the two standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling, an additional 1% of seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling will be calculated.

Example. Ms. Nguyen Thi M, who was classified under pay grade 10, coefficient 4.06, specialist rank since September 1, 1998, and has met the two standards for eligibility to receive seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling every year since 1998, shall be entitled to seniority allowances exceeding the ceiling as follows:

According to the table for converting old salary grades to new ones issued together with Circular Joint Circular No. 01/2005/TTLT-BNV-BTC mentioned above, grade 10 (old) of the specialist rank of Ms. M would be entitled to a 5% seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling. The period during which Ms. M was assigned to grade 10 (old) from September 1, 1998 to September 1, 2004 (six years), she would be entitled to an additional 6% seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling. Therefore, Ms. M would receive a total seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling of 11% (5% + 6%) of the final salary grade in the specialist rank (grade 9, pay scale coefficient 4.98); the period for calculating the next seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling for Ms. M would start from September 1, 2004.

1.3. Officials, civil servants, and employees who do not meet the criteria for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling as stipulated in Point 2 Section II of this Circular (who have been notified or decided in writing by the competent authority) shall have their time for enjoying the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling extended as follows:

a) If they have met the required service period for the final salary grade within the rank or position as stipulated in Point 1.1 Section II of this Circular but do not meet the criteria for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling, then for each year they fail to meet the criteria for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling, the period for calculating the 5% seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling will be extended by one year (12 months) compared to the period stipulated in Point 1.1 Section II of this Circular.

b) If they are currently receiving the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling (at least 5%), starting from the date of calculating the next seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling, if they do not meet the criteria for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling, the period for calculating an additional 1% seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling will be extended by one year (12 months).

1.4. Officials, civil servants, and employees who have been concluded by the competent authority to be innocent or wronged after being suspended from work, detained, arrested, or disciplined (reprimanded, warned, removed from office, or dismissed), if they are still evaluated (in writing) by the competent authority as having completed their assigned tasks annually, shall be recalculated the levels of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling as when meeting the criteria for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling stipulated in this Circular and shall be entitled to back payments of allowances and social insurance contributions (including the portion paid by the agency or unit) according to the recalculated levels of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling.

2. Method of payment for allowances:

The seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling is calculated and paid concurrently with the monthly salary of officials, civil servants, and employees and is used to calculate contributions and benefits under the social insurance scheme.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1. The head of the agency or unit directly managing officials, civil servants, and employees (at the grassroots level) is responsible for exchanging with the same-level Party Committee and Trade Union Executive Committee to implement:

1.1. Deciding or proposing the competent authority to decide according to the current hierarchical division the level of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling for officials, civil servants, and employees under the payroll of the agency or unit.

1.2. Publicly announcing the list of those entitled to the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling within the agency or unit.

1.3. Regularly reporting to the direct superior management agency on the situation and difficulties in implementing the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme for officials, civil servants, and employees at the agency or unit according to Model No. 1 issued together with this Circular annually in the fourth quarter.

2. The head of the direct superior management agency of the grassroots agency or unit is responsible for:

Inspecting the implementation of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme at grassroots agencies and units under their management; resolving difficulties at grassroots agencies and units within their authority and compiling reports to the Ministry, central sector (if under central management), Provincial People's Committees (if under local management) on the results of implementing the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme at all grassroots agencies and units under their management according to Model No. 1 issued together with this Circular.

3. The Minister, Head of Ministries equivalent to Ministers, Heads of Government Agencies, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Procuracy, Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees directly under the Central Government are responsible for:

3.1. Inspecting and resolving difficulties in implementing the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme within their managed sectors or localities according to their authority.

3.2. Deciding or delegating authority to decide on the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling for officials, civil servants, and employees under their management.

The decision on the level of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling for positions under the jurisdiction of the Politburo, Secretariat of the Central Committee, and Standing Committee of the National Assembly shall be implemented according to the current hierarchical division.

3.3. Annually in December, compiling and reporting to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the results of implementing the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme for officials, civil servants, and employees at the senior specialist rank and equivalent category A3 according to Model No. 2 issued together with this Circular.

4The General Director of the Vietnam Social Security directs provincial and centrally-administered city social security agencies to collect social insurance premiums and calculate social insurance benefits for officials, civil servants, and employees in accordance with the regulations on the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling stipulated in this Circular. If violations in the receipt of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling are discovered, the Director of the provincial or centrally-administered city social security agency shall issue a document requesting the authorized personnel management authority to correct it according to the prescribed regulations before processing social insurance benefits for the beneficiaries (and send a copy to the Ministry of Home Affairs for monitoring and inspection).

5The Ministry of Home Affairs inspects the implementation of the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme in ministries, sectors, and localities; and requests these ministries, sectors, and localities to revoke decisions on the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling for officials, civil servants, and employees that violate the provisions of this Circular.

V. EFFECTIVE DATE

1This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

2The seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling scheme for officials, civil servants, and employees as guided in this Circular shall be applied from October 1, 2004.

3. Persons working under labor contracts in state agencies and in state-run public institutions who have been classified with salary grades according to civil servant and public official ranks as agreed upon in their labor contracts, if they have reached the highest grade in their current rank, shall be entitled to the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling as provided for in this Circular.

4. The subjects eligible for the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling working in agencies and units under the People's Army, the People's Public Security Force, and in the Official Secretariat shall follow separate guidelines.

5. Cadres, civil servants, and public officials working in agencies and public institutions of the Party, the Front, and mass organizations shall implement the seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling according to the guidelines of the Central Organization Committee. In the course of implementation, if there are any difficulties, ministries, sectors, and localities shall report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for study and resolution.

During implementation, if there are difficulties, ministries, sectors, and localities should report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for research and resolution./.