Protecting Workers’ Rights When Employers Abscond: A Human Rights-Based Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Employer abscondment in Vietnam creates acute violations of workers’ rights to just remuneration, social security and effective remedy. This article reframes abscondment as a human-rights problem that engages the State’s duties under the ICESCR and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Methodologically, it combines doctrinal analysis of Vietnamese labour, social-insurance and bankruptcy law; functional comparison with leading wage-protection models (EU Directive 2008/94/EC; France’s AGS; Korea’s KCOMWEL; Japan’s reimbursement scheme); and international human-rights benchmarking (UNGPs Pillars I–III; OECD Responsible Business Conduct). The analysis reveals a persistent implementation gap: while Vietnamese law recognises wage entitlements and prioritises employees’ claims in bankruptcy, workers seldom recover promptly (or at all) when employers disappear, due to slow procedures, asset dissipation, fragmented enforcement and the absence of a systemic insolvency protection instrument. Comparative evidence shows that mature systems decouple workers’ subsistence from firm status by guaranteeing rapid payments through employer-financed schemes with subrogation. The article proposes a policy package, stress-tested against UNGPs criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and feasibility: (i) creation of a national wage guarantee fund (with indexed caps and subrogation); (ii) a fast-track insolvency/dissolution route triggered by a clear legal definition of an absconding employer and supported by interim asset-preservation measures; (iii) a one-stop administrative gateway to close employment relations and unlock social protection; and (iv) mainstreaming responsible business conduct via human-rights due diligence and participation in the fund. The contribution is both normative (reframing abscondment as a human rights obligation) and institutional (offering a practical design blueprint and KPIs for access-to-remedy compliance).