Many new regulations cover overtime pay for teachers.

Do not teach more than 200 extra hours/year

On September 23, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 21 regulating the overtime pay regime for teachers in public educational institutions.

This Circular replaces Joint Circular No. 07/2013 guiding the implementation of overtime pay regime for teachers in public educational institutions.

Compared with Joint Circular No. 07, Circular No. 21 has a number of new points to suit the teaching practices of teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that teachers cannot teach more than 200 extra hours per year to avoid being overloaded.

The new circular removes the regulations on conditions for paying overtime wages to teachers. Specifically, the previous regulations only required overtime wages to be paid in units or departments that lack teachers. Units or departments that do not lack teachers are only allowed to pay overtime wages when a teacher is on sick leave, on maternity leave, or is on training, participating in an inspection or audit team, etc., assigned or mobilized by a competent authority, and must arrange for another teacher to teach instead.

To ensure that teachers who teach extra hours are paid, Circular No. 21 stipulates a number of binding conditions such as: the total number of extra teaching hours in a school year of all teachers must not be higher than the maximum total number of extra teaching hours in a school year of the educational institution for which the educational institution is paid.

At the same time, the total number of extra teaching periods in a school year for each teacher is stipulated to not exceed 200 periods.

This regulation ensures compliance with the specific characteristics of teachers' professional activities and ensures that teachers do not have to work overtime and have time to rest and restore their labor capacity, in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Code.

Adjust overtime pay

Previously, the salary for 1 hour of teaching was calculated as the total salary of 12 months x number of teaching weeks/52 weeks.

However, the current regulations on standard teaching hours for lecturers are equivalent to 600 to 1,050 administrative hours, so the above calculation formula is no longer suitable.

Accordingly, the salary for one teaching period is adjusted as follows:

Salary per hour of teaching	=	Total salary for 12 months in the school year	x	Standard teaching hours/year calculated based on administrative hours	x	44 weeks
		Standard teaching hours/school year		1760 hours		52 weeks

The salary for an extra teaching period according to the new regulations is equal to 150% of a regular teaching period.

According to Circular No. 21, overtime pay for teachers on secondment is paid by the educational institution where the teacher is on secondment. Extra-hour pay for teachers teaching inter-school is paid by the educational institution where the teacher is teaching inter-school.

In case a teacher is assigned to teach at three or more educational institutions at the same time, the overtime salary will be paid by the educational institutions where the teacher teaches at the same school according to the ratio of the actual number of teaching hours at these educational institutions.

The new circular also stipulates that overtime pay for teachers will be paid after the end of the school year.