The World Bank's Environmental and Social Standard 2 (ESS2) on labor and working conditions requires the Borrower to prepare Labor Management Procedures (LMP): a document setting out how project workers will be managed under national law and ESS2 (ESS2, para 9). ESS2 of ADB's Environmental and Social Framework, applicable from 2026, sets similar requirements.
Four categories of project workers (ESS2, para 3)
- Direct workers: employed or engaged directly by the Borrower, project proponent or implementing agencies to work on the project.
- Contracted workers: employed or engaged through third parties (contractors, subcontractors, labor brokers) to perform work related to core project functions.
- Primary supply workers: employed or engaged by primary suppliers providing goods or materials essential to the project on an ongoing basis.
- Community workers: people providing community labor to the project.
What an LMP should cover
- Assessment of the number, timing and characteristics of each worker category, including migrant workers.
- A summary of applicable labor and occupational safety and health (OSH) law; where national law already meets ESS2, it need not be repeated.
- Minimum age: the LMP sets a minimum age of not less than 14 unless national law specifies a higher age; workers above the minimum age and under 18 may not do hazardous work (ESS2, paras 17–19).
- No forced labor in any form and no employment of trafficked persons (ESS2, para 20).
- A grievance mechanism for workers, separate from the community grievance mechanism under ESS10; workers are informed of it at recruitment and protected from reprisal (ESS2, paras 21–23).
- Occupational health and safety: hazard identification, preventive measures, documented training, incident reporting, emergency preparedness; workers may remove themselves from imminent danger without retaliation (ESS2, paras 24–30).
- How the project owner will require and monitor contractors' compliance, through bidding documents and contracts (ESS2, paras 31–33).
Points to check against Vietnamese law
- Minimum age: Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14 allows minors to be employed in some work under strict conditions. For construction projects, LMPs commonly set 18 as the minimum age for all site work to remove the risk of hazardous work.
- Overtime: the Labour Code limits overtime to 40 hours per month and 200 hours per year; certain sectors and tasks may reach 300 hours per year with the worker's consent and notification to the provincial labour authority (Article 107; Decree 145/2020/ND-CP, Articles 61 and 62). The LMP should require contractors to keep time records for monitoring.
- Minimum wage: from 1 January 2026, monthly minimum wages under Decree No. 293/2025/ND-CP are VND 5,310,000 (Region I), 4,730,000 (Region II), 4,140,000 (Region III) and 3,700,000 (Region IV).
- Grievances: Vietnamese law provides procedures for labour disputes and labour complaints; the project grievance mechanism complements rather than replaces them.