Internal labor rules are a company's "mini labor code" — the primary legal basis for imposing discipline, from reprimands to dismissal. Yet dispute practice shows many companies have rules they cannot actually use: issued through the wrong procedure, containing unlawful contents, or never registered. The checklist below helps build internal labor rules that stand up before both labor inspectors and the courts.
1. Who must have them?
Under Article 118 of the Labor Code 2019:
- 10 or more employees: written internal labor rules are mandatory.
- Fewer than 10 employees: written rules are not mandatory, but if the employer wants to apply labor discipline and material liability, those contents must appear in the labor contracts.
The 10-employee threshold counts all employees the enterprise uses, regardless of contract type. Fast-growing companies should issue rules before crossing the threshold — waiting until headcount hits ten leaves a gap in which no lawful discipline is possible.
2. Checklist of the 10 mandatory contents
Article 118 lists the principal contents the rules must cover. Go through each and check:
[ ] 1. Working hours and rest time. Standard hours, shifts, mid-shift breaks, weekly days off, public holidays. Match actual timekeeping — rules saying 8:00–17:00 while staff work until 19:00 without overtime pay create self-made evidence of violation.
[ ] 2. Workplace order. Dress code, conduct, equipment use, access to restricted areas. Write specifically and measurably — "dress decently" is vague; "uniform per company policy" is specific.
[ ] 3. Occupational safety and hygiene. Safety procedures for the industry, incident-reporting duties, use of protective equipment.
[ ] 4. Prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. Rules prohibiting sexual harassment, complaint channels and the procedures for handling harassment cases — a mandatory content under Art. 118(2)(d) of the Labor Code 2019.
[ ] 5. Protection of assets; business, technological and IP secrets. Critically important for FDI and tech companies. List what counts as secret, who may access it, and how long confidentiality survives after resignation.
[ ] 6. Cases of temporary reassignment. Only in legally permitted cases (natural disasters, fire, epidemics, emergency prevention…), with time limits and wage regimes.
[ ] 7. Disciplinary violations. List specific acts matched to each sanction level. This is the section courts scrutinize most when reviewing a dismissal's legality.
[ ] 8. Forms of disciplinary sanction. Under the law: reprimand, wage-increase deferral (max 6 months), demotion, dismissal. Employers may not "invent" new forms such as fines or wage deductions — those are unlawful.
[ ] 9. Material liability. Cases of compensation for damage (lost tools, damaged assets…), and how compensation levels are determined.
[ ] 10. Authority competent to impose discipline. State the title (e.g., General Director, HR Director) — a disciplinary decision signed by an unauthorized person is void.
3. Three survival principles
Consult the employee representative organization. Before issuance, the employer must consult the grassroots employee representative organization (if any). Skipping this step is a procedural defect that can get the rules challenged. Where a collective labor agreement exists, the rules must not conflict with it — the two documents must "speak the same language."
Register on time with the Department of Home Affairs. After issuance, the rules must be registered with the Department of Home Affairs (the provincial labor authority) where the enterprise is registered, within 10 days of issuance (Art. 119(2)). The rules take effect 15 days after the competent authority receives the complete registration file (Art. 121) — not from issuance, and not from any "approval" date. Within 7 working days of receiving the file, if unlawful contents are found, the authority notifies the employer to amend and re-register.
Publicize to every employee. The rules must be communicated to each employee and posted at necessary locations. An employee cannot be disciplined for violating rules they never knew. Best practice is a signed acknowledgment from every employee, kept in the personnel file — it is the employer's proof when a dismissed worker claims ignorance.
4. Four mistakes that kill the rules when you need them
- Unlawful contents: fines, wage deductions, dismissal for legally prohibited reasons. The unlawful parts are void and unusable as a disciplinary basis.
- No (or late) registration: "internal-only" unregistered rules lack full legal standing in disputes; filing more than 10 days after issuance breaches the statutory deadline.
- No publication: issued then filed away — employees can simply say "I never knew."
- Vaguely described violations: "lack of responsibility," "negative influence" — courts will not accept these as a dismissal basis because no specific act can be identified.
5. Quick Q&A
Q: How many employees trigger the obligation to have written internal labor rules?
A: Employers with 10 or more employees must have written internal labor rules. Employers with fewer than 10 employees are not required to issue written rules, but disciplinary and material-liability contents (if any) must still appear in the labor contracts.
Q: Where are internal labor rules registered?
A: With the Department of Home Affairs (the provincial labor authority after the 2025 restructuring) where the enterprise is registered, within 10 days of issuance. The rules take effect 15 days after the competent authority receives the complete file (Art. 121) — only then can they ground disciplinary action — and must be publicly communicated to employees.
Q: What mandatory contents must internal labor rules include?
A: Under Article 118 of the Labor Code 2019: working hours and rest time; workplace order; occupational safety and hygiene; prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace; protection of assets and of business, technological and IP secrets; cases of temporary reassignment; disciplinary violations, sanctions and material liability; and the authority competent to impose discipline.
Q: What happens if the rules conflict with the law?
A: Rule contents may not contravene labor law, the collective labor agreement, or labor contracts. Unlawful contents are void — the employer cannot rely on them for discipline and may face administrative penalties.
Q: What if an employee is dismissed without valid internal rules?
A: Very risky. Dismissal must be based on violations defined in registered and publicized internal labor rules. Without valid rules, the dismissal is easily declared unlawful — the employer must reinstate the employee and pay compensation.
6. When to work with a lawyer
Work with a lawyer when drafting or amending the rules (checking the 10 mandatory contents, removing unlawful clauses, designing the sanction ladder), when imposing serious discipline (especially dismissal — one procedural misstep loses the case), and when facing a labor inspection. Reviewing the rules always costs less than one unlawful-dismissal lawsuit. FLAT Law Firm advises businesses on labor law — hotline 0988424851.
References
- Labor Code 2019, Arts. 118–119 (effective 01/01/2021); Decree 145/2020/ND-CP (effective 01/02/2021).
- Cross-checked via thuvienphapluat.vn and luatvietnam.vn at time of writing (28/9/2026).
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