Answer
1. Case No. 1: The Employee has confirmed with the Employer about the agreement to enter into a new LC via email.
According to the Labour Code, the LC must be signed in writing by the parties and made into 02 originals, the Employer and the Employee each keep 01 original. A LC concluded via electronic devices in the form of a data message in accordance with the law on electronic transactions will be as valid as a written LC. A LC with a term of less than 01 month could be entered into as a verbal agreement between the parties[1]. Accordingly, data messages are information created, sent, received, and kept by electronic devices, electronic devices are devices operated by electrical, electronic technologies, digital technologies, magnetic, wireless transmission, optical transmission, electromagnetic or similar technology[2]. Thus, the Employee’s confirmation via email to enter into a new LC with the Employer will legally bind the Employee according to the provisions cited above. Hence, the Employee is obliged to enter into a new LC after the signed LC expires.
2. Case No. 2: The Employee has signed a new LC in which the agreed effective date will be the date following the expiration date of the current LC.
Pursuant to Article 23 of the Labour Code, the LC will take effect from the date the parties sign it, unless the parties agree otherwise or otherwise provided by law. Consequently, the Employer and the Employee can enter into a new LC in which the parties agree that the effective date of the new LC will be the next date of the expiration date of the current LC.
However, as mentioned above, the labour relations between the Employer and the Employee have arisen since the parties entered into a LC recognising the rights and obligations of the parties throughout the working process. Accordingly, the parties are obliged to perform the agreements committed in the LC. The agreed effective date of the parties to implement the LC which will be valid right after its signing date is only for the purpose that the parties can have enough time to complete the term of the signed LC, rather than abandon rights and the obligations of the parties agreed under the new LC. Therefore, the Employee has the obligation to perform that new LC without making any amendment therein whether such amendment (if any) is made before the new LC is implemented unless the Employee reaches a mutual agreement in writing with the Employer about the amendment.
