The threshold of 10 employees, the change of the registering authority for internal labour regulations to the home affairs authority, the effective date 15 days later, why salary scales and payrolls no longer have to be registered, and why an enterprise without valid internal labour regulations cannot dismiss an employee.
About this article
The authority registering internal labour regulations has changed. Following the merger of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs into the Ministry of Home Affairs and the move to a two tier local government model, the authority receiving registrations of internal labour regulations is the home affairs authority of the provincial People's Committee, or the home affairs authority of the communal People's Committee where the provincial People's Committee has so delegated. These rules apply from 1 July 2025 under Decree No. 129/2025/ND-CP. Whether delegation to the communal level has been made depends on each province, so an enterprise needs to check the delegation decision of the province in which it is registered.
Information updated to September 2026. This article provides general information and does not replace legal advice for a specific case. The authority competent to receive registrations of internal labour regulations may differ between provinces according to the delegation made.
1. Internal labour regulations are the basis for discipline
New enterprises often treat internal labour regulations as a paperwork formality and leave them until last. That misjudges their role. The regulations are the precondition for any labour discipline: without valid regulations, the employer's right to manage staff is largely unenforceable in practice, whatever the labour contract says.
2. The duty to issue and the duty to register apply at different thresholds
An enterprise has two separate obligations:
| Size | Must issue internal labour regulations | Must be in writing | Must be registered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 10 employees | Yes | Not mandatory | No |
| 10 employees or more | Yes | Mandatory | Mandatory |
Every employer must issue internal labour regulations, however many staff it has. The 10-employee threshold decides only their form and whether they must be registered.
In practice, an enterprise with fewer than 10 employees should still issue written regulations, because an employer may not discipline an employee for conduct that the regulations do not cover. Without written regulations, the enterprise cannot show which conduct is a breach.
3. The regulations must cover all the main matters
The regulations must not conflict with labour law and related laws, and must cover these main matters:
- Working hours and rest periods.
- Order at the workplace.
- Occupational safety and hygiene.
- Prevention of and action against sexual harassment at the workplace; the order and procedure for dealing with acts of sexual harassment at the workplace.
- Protection of the assets and of the business secrets, technological secrets and intellectual property of the employer.
- The cases in which an employee may be temporarily assigned work other than that provided for in the labour contract.
- Acts breaching labour discipline and the corresponding forms of labour discipline.
- Material liability.
- The person competent to impose labour discipline.
The fourth and fifth matters are new compared with the Labour Code 2012. Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP gives specific guidance on preventing and dealing with sexual harassment.
The seventh matter is decisive. If the regulations do not list a breach and its disciplinary sanction, the enterprise cannot discipline anyone for that breach.
4. The regulations must be consulted on, registered, and take effect only after a waiting period
4.1. The employer must consult before issuing the regulations
Before issuing internal labour regulations or amending or supplementing them, the employer must consult the grassroots employee representative organisation, where such an organisation exists.
This is consultation, not approval: the employee representative organisation has no veto. Skipping this step is still a procedural breach and puts the regulations at risk of being invalid. An enterprise without a grassroots employee representative organisation does not have this obligation.
4.2. The registration file must be filed within 10 days
The enterprise must file the registration dossier within 10 days of issuing the regulations. The dossier comprises the written request for registration; the internal labour regulations; the written comments of the grassroots employee representative organisation, where such an organisation exists; and the employer's documents containing provisions related to labour discipline and material liability, if any.
Within 7 working days of receiving the dossier, if the regulations contain unlawful provisions, the registration authority notifies the enterprise and guides it to amend them and register again.
An enterprise with branches, units or establishments in several localities must send the registered regulations to the home affairs authority where each unit is located.
4.3. The regulations take effect 15 days after a complete file is received
The regulations take effect 15 days after the competent authority receives the complete registration dossier. For an enterprise with fewer than 10 employees that issues written regulations, the employer decides the effective date and states it in the regulations.
The point from which effectiveness runs must be understood precisely. It is not the date on which the enterprise issues the regulations, nor the date on which the state authority issues a document of approval, but the date on which the competent authority receives the complete dossier. The consequence is that where a dossier is returned for amendment, the 15 day point is recalculated from the date on which the enterprise refiles a complete dossier. During that intervening period the regulations are not yet in force and cannot be used as a basis for imposing discipline.
5. Salary scales, payrolls and labour norms no longer have to be registered
An enterprise has three obligations in relation to salary scales, payrolls and labour norms: to formulate them; to consult the grassroots employee representative organisation, where such an organisation exists; and to publish them openly at the workplace before implementation.
The Labour Code 2012 required salary scales and payrolls to be sent to the state labour authority; this obligation ended on 1 January 2021. This is a notable difference from internal labour regulations: the regulations must still be registered, salary scales and payrolls need not be.
On bonuses, the employer decides the bonus scheme and must publish it at the workplace after consulting the grassroots employee representative organisation.
6. Without valid regulations, an enterprise cannot dismiss an employee
The legal basis for dismissal is a chain of four links. If one link is missing, the whole chain breaks.
The first link. The law prohibits disciplining an employee for an act that is not provided for in the internal labour regulations, not agreed in the labour contract, and not provided for by labour law.
The second link. The grounds for dismissal all refer back to the internal labour regulations. The law permits dismissal where the employee causes serious damage, or threatens particularly serious damage, to the employer's assets or interests, but it does not define what is serious. That level of damage must be quantified by the internal labour regulations. The ground of repeat breach also requires an earlier disciplinary decision, which means that regulations must already have existed to support the first decision. For sexual harassment at the workplace in particular, the law expressly requires that the act be provided for in the internal labour regulations.
The third link. For an enterprise with 10 or more employees, the regulations take effect only after registration. Unregistered regulations have no legal effect.
The fourth link is the financial consequence. A dismissal without a valid basis in the internal labour regulations amounts to unlawful termination of the labour contract. The employer must then reinstate the employee; pay salary and social, health and unemployment insurance contributions for the whole period during which the employee was not permitted to work; pay a further amount of at least 02 months of salary; and, if the two parties agree to terminate, pay in addition a severance allowance together with further compensation of at least 02 months of salary.
Wrongful dismissal of a manager usually costs far more than the administrative fine for not registering the regulations. Registration is therefore not a mere formality.
7. Enterprises also need several other internal rules
7.1. Every employer must issue rules on grassroots democracy
Every employer must issue rules on grassroots democracy at the workplace, and must consult the grassroots employee representative organisation when issuing them (Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP). The related legal framework at statutory level is the Law on the Exercise of Grassroots Democracy No. 10/2022/QH15, in force from 1 July 2023.
The enterprise must disclose: its production and business situation; the internal labour regulations, salary scales, payrolls and labour norms; how the reward and welfare funds are set aside and used; and its deduction and payment of trade union fees and social, health and unemployment insurance contributions.
7.2. Enterprises must hold dialogue at the workplace
An enterprise must hold dialogue periodically at least once a year, which is less frequent than the once every three months required by the Labour Code 2012. In addition, an enterprise must hold dialogue at the request of one or both parties, and dialogue is mandatory in certain matters such as before a labour utilisation plan is adopted. An employee conference is held at least once a year under Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP.
7.3. Performance assessment rules are a condition for termination
These rules are not described as mandatory but in practice they are a necessary condition. The employer may unilaterally terminate a labour contract because the employee frequently fails to complete the work only where the assessment follows the criteria for assessing work performance in the employer's rules. These rules are issued by the employer but the employer must consult the grassroots employee representative organisation, where such an organisation exists.
Without valid assessment rules, the enterprise cannot rely on this ground. The logic mirrors internal labour regulations and dismissal: the regulations are a precondition for dismissal, and the assessment rules are a precondition for terminating a contract because the employee fails to complete the work.
7.4. Business secrets need a written protection agreement
The agreement is made in writing, as a separate document or a clause in the labour contract, its principal contents comprising the list of business secrets and technological secrets, the scope of use, the period of protection, the method of protection, the rights and obligations of the parties, and the treatment of breaches and compensation.
How a breach is handled depends on timing. While the employment lasts, labour law applies, including disciplinary dismissal and material liability. After the employment ends, civil law applies.
8. Organisations are fined double the amount for individuals
The fines for individuals under Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP, in force from 10 September 2026, are as follows; organisations are fined double:
| Conduct | Fine applicable to an individual |
|---|---|
| Not informing all employees of the regulations, or not posting their main contents at the workplace | VND 1 million to VND 3 million |
| No written regulations with 10 or more employees; regulations not registered; discipline not following the correct procedure or time limit | VND 5 million to VND 10 million |
| Harming an employee's health, honour, life, reputation or dignity in disciplinary action; fining or docking pay instead of disciplining; disciplining for conduct not in the regulations | VND 20 million to VND 40 million |
Remedial measures include reinstating the employee, paying salary, making a public apology and refunding amounts collected.
9. The order in which to build the regulations and rules
- Internal labour regulations come first, because all disciplinary management depends on them. Settle the list of breaches in advance and set out what level of damage counts as serious.
- Work performance assessment rules, prepared alongside the regulations.
- Salary scales, payrolls and labour norms, which require consultation and publication, but not registration.
- Grassroots democracy rules and a schedule of periodic dialogue.
- A business secret protection agreement with a specific list for positions with access to sensitive information.
- Register the internal labour regulations within 10 days of issue, and record the date the authority receives the complete dossier so that the effective date is calculated correctly.