Pursuant to the labour law, Employers and Employees may agree to choose one of the following forms of salary: (i) cash; or (ii) transfer via personal account of Employees opened at the bank[1]. On the other hand, according to the current foreign exchange law, cheques are defined as valuable papers drawn by any drawer who orders any drawee to deduct a certain amount from his payment account to pay to a beneficiary[2]. Therefore, cheques are considered a payment instrument rather than a payment method. In addition, the law also provides that valuable papers include shares, bonds, drafts, promissory notes, bills, certificates of deposit, checks, fund certificates and other valuable papers as prescribed by law, which are valued as money and are allowed for trading[3]. With the said regulations, cheques will not be considered cash for use when paying Employees their salaries.
[1]Article 94.2 Labor Code
[2]Article 3.1 Circular 22/2015/TT-NHNN dated 20/11//2015
[3]Article 3.9 Decree 163/2006/NĐ-CP dated 29/12/2006 and Article 1.1 Decree 11/2012/NĐ-CP dated 22/02/2012