This is a noteworthy content in the draft Decree specifying the detailed implementation of certain provisions of the Labor Code regarding labor management, labor contracts, wages, labor discipline, and material responsibility, which is currently open for public consultation online and is expected to take effect from January 01, 2021.
Article table of contents
Additional primary contents required in labor regulations
To be specific, according to Article 15 of this Draft, the Labor Regulations in Article 118 of the Labor Code are stipulated as follows:
Employers must issue labor regulations. If employing 10 or more employees, the labor regulations must be in writing. If employing fewer than 10 employees, the labor regulations may be issued in another form but must ensure that all employees are informed to comply.
The content of the labor regulations must not be contrary to labor laws, relevant legal regulations, and must include the following primary contents:
- Working hours, rest periods: specify normal working hours per day, per week; shifts; start time, end time of shifts; overtime (if any); overtime in special cases; times of breaks outside mid-shift breaks; shift breaks; weekly days off; annual leave, personal leave, unpaid leave.
- Order at the workplace: specify the scope of work, movement during working hours; etiquettes, dress code; compliance with the employer's assignments and mobilization.
- Occupational safety and hygiene at the workplace: responsibility to understand and comply with regulations, rules, processes, measures ensuring occupational safety and hygiene, fire prevention; usage and preservation of personal protective equipment, devices ensuring safety and hygiene at the workplace; workplace hygiene, detoxification, and sterilization.
- Preventing and combating sexual harassment at the workplace; procedures for handling sexual harassment at the workplace: the employer shall stipulate prevention of sexual harassment according to the Government of Vietnam's policy on female laborers and gender equality. (This is a completely new content added in the Draft compared to Decree 05/2015/ND-CP)
- Protection of assets and trade secrets, technological secrets, intellectual property of the employer: specify the list of assets, documents, technological secrets, trade secrets, intellectual property; responsibilities and measures to protect assets and secrets; acts of infringing on assets and secrets.
- Cases where employees may be temporarily transferred to different jobs than those agreed in the labor contract: specifically stipulate the cases due to production and business needs where employees may be temporarily transferred to different jobs than those in the labor contract as per clause 1 Article 29 of the Labor Code. (This is also newly added content in the Draft compared to Decree 05/2015/ND-CP)
- Acts of labor discipline violations by employees and forms of disciplinary action: specifically stipulate acts of labor discipline violations; corresponding forms of disciplinary action.
- Material responsibility: specify cases where compensation is required due to damage to tools, equipment, or acts causing property damage; cases where compensation is required for loss of tools, equipment, property, or overconsumption of materials; the corresponding compensation level proportionate to the damage. (This is also newly added content in the Draft compared to Decree 05/2015/ND-CP)
- Person authorized to handle labor discipline: the person authorized to sign labor contracts on the employer's side stipulated in clause 3 Article 18 of the Labor Code or the person specifically stipulated in the labor regulations by the employer. (This is also newly added content in the Draft compared to Decree 05/2015/ND-CP)
Before issuing labor regulations or amending and supplementing labor regulations, the employer must consult the grassroots labor representative organization if such an organization exists at the establishment in accordance with Article 63 of the Labor Code.
After issuing, the labor regulations must be sent to each grassroots labor representative organization and notified to all employees in the enterprise, and the main contents must be posted at necessary locations in the workplace.
Thus, it can be seen that compared to the current regulations in Decree 05/2015/ND-CP, this Draft Decree has added more mandatory contents in the labor regulations to better ensure the legal rights and interests of employees as well as the rights of employers.
For more details on the contents of this Draft Decree, see HERE.
Nguyen Trinh
