Drafting and registering labor regulations in Vietnam

Internal labor regulations are of great significance in labor management and handling of labor discipline, contributing to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees when participating in labor relations. Not only that, labor regulations are also a mandatory content that must be included in employers with 10 or more people and must be registered with the competent authority. Many clients still have questions about the content that needs to be included in the exam rules, the article below Viet An Tax Agent will answer the above problem.

Legal basis

• Labor Code 2019
• Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Labor Code on working conditions and labor relations
• Decree No. 12/2022/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of labor, social insurance, and Vietnamese workers working abroad

Concept of labor regulations

Internal labor regulations are documents issued by the employer, stipulating the rules of conduct that employees are obliged to comply with when participating in labor relations, regulations on labor disciplinary acts, handling methods and material responsibilities

Bases for drafting labor regulations in Vietnam

• The employer may base on the production and business situation of the unit to draft labor regulations in accordance with the provisions of the labor law
• The employer may consult the drafting opinion of the Executive Committee of the trade union or the employee’s representative
• Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 119 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates: “Employers employing 10 or more employees must register labor regulations at the specialized labor agency of the provincial-level People’s Committee where the employer registers business”

After the drafting is completed, the employer signs a decision to announce the internal labor regulations and publicly announce them in the unit and if the unit has more than 10 employees, it is necessary to register the internal labor regulations at the competent state agency.

Forms of labor regulations

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 118 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates: “Every employer must promulgate internal labor regulations, in case of employing 10 or more employees, the internal labor regulations must be in writing.”

Thus, the form of an internal labor regulation in an organization or enterprise must be expressed in a special document for enterprises employing 10 or more employees. For verbal or non-written forms, it can only be used when the organization or enterprise has less than 10 employees.

Some main contents of labor regulations in Vietnam

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 118 of the Labor Code 2019, the content of labor regulations must not be contrary to labor laws and relevant laws.

For companies that are required to register internal labor regulations, pursuant to Clause 2, Article 69 of Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP, internal labor regulations include the following main contents:

Working hours, rest time

The working time and rest time will be prescribed by the employer itself in accordance with the industry, operation, situation and business conditions of the organization and enterprise, but must not exceed the standards on working and rest time of employees in the Labor Code. Internal Labor Regulations stipulate the working time schedule of employees such as:

• Regulations on normal working hours per day, per week;
• Work shifts;
• Start time, end time of work shifts;
• Overtime (if any); overtime in special cases;
• Timing of breaks outside of mid-shift breaks; shift change breaks; weekly days off; annual leave, personal leave, unpaid leave.

Workplace Order

Regulations on order in the workplace aim to create practical meaning in an orderly, disciplined and orderly working environment. Depending on the different characteristics of each industry and each job, the regulations on maintaining order in the workplace have different points. Based on each characteristic and nature of work, the employer shall promulgate regulations on order at the workplace accordingly.

• Regulations on the scope of working and travel during working hours;
• Culture of behavior and costumes; comply with the assignment and dispatch of the employer

Occupational safety and hygiene at the workplace

Occupational accidents are something that no one wants, however, in fact, this problem occurs relatively often at construction sites, factories, factories, etc. The cause of these accidents is due to non-compliance with labor discipline on ensuring occupational safety and hygiene at the workplace. Therefore, the issue of compliance with labor discipline on ensuring occupational safety and hygiene at the workplace is extremely necessary and must be specifically stipulated in the internal labor regulations to force employers and employees to strictly implement.

• Responsibility to comply with regulations, internal rules, processes and measures to ensure occupational safety and hygiene, fire and explosion prevention and fighting;
• Use and preserve personal protective equipment, equipment to ensure occupational safety and hygiene at the workplace;
• Cleaning, detoxification and disinfection at the workplace;

Prevention and control of sexual harassment in the workplace

• This is a mandatory content in the internal labor regulations according to the new provisions of the Labor Code 2019. Accordingly, sexual harassment in the workplace is a strictly prohibited act;
• The Law stipulates requirements related to the order and procedures for handling acts of sexual harassment in the workplace in an open direction for employers to prescribe on sexual harassment prevention and control;
• The method of responsibility for internal handling, handling of labor discipline, complaints and denunciations related to acts of sexual harassment at the workplace must be clearly stated in the internal labor regulations.

Protection of assets and business secrets, technological secrets, intellectual property of employers

In the process of participating in labor relations, the employer will hand over relevant assets to perform the assigned tasks and jobs. On the other hand, in specific fields and in important positions, employees can also grasp business secrets and technologies of agencies and enterprises. These are intangible assets that sometimes have a much greater value than the tangible assets of the business such as movable property or real estate.

Therefore, the protection of assets, business secrets, technological secrets and intellectual property of the employer is an important and mandatory obligation of the employee when the labor relationship is established. At the same time, in the internal labor regulations, it is necessary to specify the business secrets, technology, and intellectual property of the unit for employees to know and implement.

• To prescribe the list of assets, documents, technological secrets, business secrets and intellectual property; responsibilities and measures applied to protect assets and secrets;
• Acts of infringing upon property and secrets;

Regulations on cases in which employees may be temporarily transferred to work other than labor contracts

• Specifying cases in which employees may be temporarily transferred to work other than labor contracts due to production and business needs

Regulations on violations of labor discipline by employees and forms of labor discipline

Violations of labor discipline of employees and forms of labor discipline and material responsibility are a very important and necessary content that must be stipulated in the internal labor regulations. This is a legal basis for employers to discipline employees when they commit violations.

• Specifying violations of labor discipline;
• The form of handling labor discipline corresponds to the violation;

Material Responsibility

• Regulations on cases requiring compensation for damage caused by damaging tools, equipment or acts causing property damage;
• Due to losing tools, equipment, assets or consuming materials beyond the norm;
• Level of compensation for damage corresponding to the extent of damage; authorized person to handle damage compensation;

Regulations on persons competent to handle labor discipline

• The person competent to conclude the labor contract on the side of the employer or the person specified in the internal labor regulations.

Some notes when drafting labor regulations in Vietnam

• Firstly, the contents of the internal labor regulations must not be contrary to the labor law and the provisions of relevant laws
• Secondly, for enterprises with grassroots employee representative organizations, before promulgating or amending or supplementing the contents of the internal labor regulations, the employer must consult with the grassroots employee representative organization.
• Thirdly, after being drafted, the internal labor regulations must be announced and registered in accordance with the provisions of law to the competent authority. If the employer has 10 or more employees without registering the internal labor regulations, it will be sanctioned for administrative violations according to regulations.

If you have any difficulties or questions related to the drafting and registration of labor regulations, please contact Viet An Tax Agent for the most specific advice.