Overtime pay in Vietnam looks simple (150%, 200%, 300%) until night hours, holidays and the question "divided by how many days?" come in. This article walks through the calculation for an employee on a monthly salary, following the Labour Code 2019 (Bộ luật Lao động 2019, Articles 98, 106 and 107) and Decree 145/2020/NĐ-CP (Articles 55 to 57), with every step shown. The rules are as checked on 14 October 2026 against legal-database summaries of those texts; a draft amendment of the Labour Code was under discussion in 2026 but was not in force. The same steps run in our Vietnam overtime pay calculator. This is a guide to the legal minimums, not legal advice; your contract or collective agreement may pay more.
Step 1: the salary that counts
Overtime is paid on the actual pay for the job: the salary in the contract plus allowances tied to the job or position. Decree 145 excludes overtime and night pay themselves, holiday and paid-leave pay, bonuses, and allowances that are not about the work: meals, fuel, phone, transport, housing, childcare, and support for weddings or funerals. Take Lan, whose salary for the job is 10,400,000 ₫ a month.
Step 2: the hourly wage
Hourly wage = monthly pay ÷ (normal working days × normal hours a day).
Decree 145 divides by the actual normal hours worked, with the number of days no more than the normal working days in the employer's rules. It does not say 26. Lan's company works six days a week, 8 hours a day, and its rules use 26 days:
10,400,000 ÷ (26 × 8) = 10,400,000 ÷ 208 = 50,000 ₫ an hour.
The divisor matters. Minh earns 11,000,000 ₫ at a company that works five days a week and uses 22 days: 11,000,000 ÷ 176 = 62,500 ₫ an hour. Had the payroll used 26 days, it would be 52,884.62 ₫, about 15% less for every overtime hour. Check which figure your company's internal rules (nội quy) or contract use.
Step 3: the rate for each kind of hour
Article 98 sets the minimum rates; Articles 55 to 57 of Decree 145 turn them into formulas:
| Kind of hour | Rate | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Overtime on a normal working day | 150% | Article 98(1)(a) |
| Overtime on the weekly rest day | 200% | Article 98(1)(b) |
| Overtime on a public holiday, Tết or paid leave day | 300% | Article 98(1)(c), on top of the holiday's own pay |
| Night work inside normal hours | +30% | Article 98(2) |
| Night overtime, normal day, no daytime overtime | 200% | 150% + 30% + 20% × 100% |
| Night overtime, normal day, after daytime overtime | 210% | 150% + 30% + 20% × 150% |
| Night overtime, weekly rest day | 270% | 200% + 30% + 20% × 200% |
| Night overtime, holiday | 390% | 300% + 30% + 20% × 300% |
Night is 22:00 to 06:00 (Article 106). The night overtime formula in Article 57 has three parts: the day's overtime rate, the 30% night premium, and 20% of the daytime hourly wage of that day. On a normal day the daytime wage is 100% if you did no overtime earlier that day and 150% if you did; that is the difference between 200% and 210%.
Step 4: multiply
Lan's month, at 50,000 ₫ an hour:
- 10 hours of weekday overtime after work: 50,000 × 150% × 10 = 750,000 ₫.
- Sunday (her weekly rest day), 4 hours in the day and 2 at night: 4 × 50,000 × 200% = 400,000 ₫, plus 2 × 50,000 × 270% = 270,000 ₫. Together 670,000 ₫.
- A public holiday, 8 hours in the day and 3 at night: 8 × 150,000 = 1,200,000 ₫, plus 3 × 50,000 × 390% = 585,000 ₫. Together 1,785,000 ₫. Because Lan is paid monthly, the holiday's own pay is already in her salary; this is on top.
- One weekday she worked 2 hours of overtime until 22:00 and then 2 more: 2 × 75,000 = 150,000 ₫ in the day, and 2 × 50,000 × 210% = 210,000 ₫ at night. If she had started the overtime at 22:00 without the daytime part, the 2 night hours would earn 200,000 ₫.
A night-shift worker whose normal hours fall between 22:00 and 06:00 gets 30% extra for those hours: 40 such hours at 50,000 ₫ add 600,000 ₫, and they are not overtime.
Step 5: check the limits
Article 107 allows overtime only with the employee's consent and within:
- 50% of the normal daily hours (on a weekly schedule, no more than 12 hours of work in a day in total);
- 40 hours a month;
- 200 hours a year, or 300 hours a year in the sectors and cases of Article 107(3): export production of textiles, garments, leather, footwear, electrical and electronic goods and processed farm, forest and fishery products; power, telecommunications, oil refining and water supply; work that needs scarce highly skilled staff; and urgent work driven by seasons or unforeseen events.
Lan's example (10 + 6 + 11 + 4 = 31 hours of overtime) is within the 40-hour month. A month with 46 hours is not, whatever the pay.
Common mistakes
- Dividing by 26 by default. The divisor is the normal working days in your employer's rules. On a five-day week, 26 underpays every overtime hour.
- Including the wrong allowances, or leaving out job allowances that belong in the base.
- Paying holiday overtime at 300% "including" the holiday pay for a daily-paid worker. The 300% excludes the holiday's own pay, which is due separately.
- Using 150% for all night overtime. Night overtime on a normal day is at least 200%, and 210% after daytime overtime.
- Counting night-shift hours as overtime. Normal hours at night earn the 30% premium, not an overtime rate, and do not count toward the caps.
- Treating the minimum as the rate. The law sets floors; a contract can pay more.
To see what overtime does to take-home pay after insurance and personal income tax, use the gross-to-net salary calculator.