An overtime inspection does not start with the question “did you exceed overtime hours”, but with three stacks of documents placed side by side on the table. This article describes that inspection process precisely, kept apart from the general labour-inspection picture at FDI enterprises covered elsewhere; the substantive hours rules for each worker group — such as juvenile workers — are in that group article, while here we cover only how they are checked.
Three document layers, cross-matched
Layer one is timesheets and rosters: actual in-and-out times per person per day. Layer two is payroll: overtime hours paid, rates applied, night supplements. Layer three — the one companies forget — is operational data: output per shift, electricity consumption, machine logs, gate access records. Inspectors cross-match the three layers; a plant declaring “no overtime beyond 40 hours a month” whose night-shift output and power consumption tell another story will be asked to explain on the spot.
The most sensitive comparison is internal consistency: timesheets ending at 17:00 while overtime pay runs steadily, or the reverse — zero overtime pay while security gates log hundreds of exits after 20:00. Both directions of mismatch are signals, one suggesting payroll falsification, the other unpaid mobilised overtime.
Four checks on mobilisation conditions
Beyond hour counts, inspectors check the conditions of overtime mobilisation at four points. One, evidence of employee consent to overtime. Two, the written notification to the provincial labour authority if the company uses the 200–300 hour annual band. Three, filtering of protected groups out of overtime and night rosters: late-stage pregnant employees, mothers of children under 12 months, juvenile workers. Four, whether in-shift breaks and weekly rest are respected in actual rosters.
All four are document checks, not presentation checks. A company that cannot produce consent papers or the 300-hour notification at inspection time is recorded as failing the condition, even if it “was done but not yet filed”. The working-hours compliance file should be its own folder, updated monthly, rather than assembled when the inspection decision arrives.
Inspection outcomes: minutes, fines and remediation
Overtime violations are minuted and fined administratively under Decree 283/2026/ND-CP (replacing Decree 12/2022/ND-CP from 10/9/2026), with remediation requirements: pay employees the missing overtime wages in full, bring rosters back within the caps, and report remediation results. The back-pay owed to employees usually dwarfs the administrative fine — the point management most often gets backwards when weighing “overtime risk”.
Strategically, self-auditing in advance with the inspectors own three-layer method is the only way to know where you stand. Self-detected and remediated issues (back-pay, roster fixes, late notifications) do not erase past violations, but they are recorded in the handling file and evidence good faith before inspectors and customer social audits alike.
FAQs
What do labour inspectors check regarding working hours?
Inspectors work by cross-matching: timesheets and rosters against payroll, and both against operational data (shift output, power use, gate logs). They check hour counts and mobilisation conditions alike: employee consent, the 300-hour notification, exclusion of protected groups from overtime and nights, in-shift breaks and weekly rest.
Timesheets?
Timesheets are the starting document but never stand alone: they are matched against payroll (overtime hours paid, rates) and plant operational data. Mismatches between layers — gate exits after 20:00 with zero overtime pay, for instance — are the first signal dug into.
Violations?
Violations are minuted and fined under Decree 283/2026/ND-CP, with remediation duties: pay missing overtime wages in full, bring rosters within the caps, and report remediation. The back-pay to employees typically exceeds the fine many times over.
Penalties?
Keep a dedicated working-hours compliance folder updated monthly: overtime consent agreements, the 200–300 hour notification if any, protected-group filtering lists, rosters and a timesheet-to-payroll self-reconciliation. Remediating before inspectors arrive is recorded good faith, even though it cannot erase violations already committed.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council