Internal labour rules in Vietnam: must they be registered, and when do they apply?

Every employer in Vietnam must have internal labour rules in Vietnam, which foreign groups often call work rules in Vietnam or the employee handbook in Vietnam. Under Article 118 of the Labour Code, the rules are mandatory for every employer and must be in writing once the employer uses 10 or more employees. From that threshold the employer must also register them within 10 days of issuing them (Article 119). When do internal labour rules take effect? Only 15 days after the authority receives a complete file (Article 121). The fine for not registering internal labour rules, for having no written rules or for applying rules that are not yet effective is set by Article 25 of Decree 283/2026/ND-CP.

This article is for HR and legal teams of foreign-invested companies and SMEs. We checked it against the Labour Code (consolidated text 18/VBHN-VPQH of 12 February 2026, which keeps Articles 118 to 121 as in the 2019 original), Decree 145/2020/ND-CP and Decree 283/2026/ND-CP, in force since 10 September 2026. What changed recently is the name and level of the receiving office. Disciplinary procedure itself is covered in our guide to dismissal of employees in Vietnam.

Are internal labour rules in Vietnam mandatory? Under 10 and 10 or more employees#

Article 118 treats the two groups differently.

• 10 or more employees: written rules, registration and the 15-day effect rule described above (Article 118(1), Article 119, Article 121).
• Fewer than 10 employees: rules are still required, but they need not be in writing and Article 119 does not apply. Discipline and material liability must be agreed in the labour contract (Article 69(1) of Decree 145). If the employer still issues written rules, it sets the effective date in the rules (Article 121, second paragraph).

In both groups, where an employee representative organisation exists the employer must consult it before issuing or amending the rules (Article 118(3)). The Code does not say how to count "10 employees". Our reading is that it means people working under a labour contract at the time the rules are issued. It also gives no grace period when a company crosses the threshold, so the safe approach is to adopt written internal labour rules in Vietnam and register them as soon as the tenth employee is hired. A smaller company also benefits from writing its internal labour rules in Vietnam down: Article 127(3) bars disciplining conduct that the rules, the labour contract and the law all leave unaddressed.

How to register internal labour rules in Vietnam, and with whom#

Registration is mandatory for employers with 10 or more employees. Article 119 sets four rules:

• Where: the provincial labour authority where the employer is registered for business (Article 119(1)).
• When: the file is due within 10 days of the date the rules are issued (Article 119(2)).
• The authority's response: within 7 working days of receiving the file, if the rules contain provisions contrary to law, the authority notifies the employer and guides it to amend and register again (Article 119(3)). The Code does not require the authority to issue a certificate of approval.
• Branches and units in other places: the registered rules are sent to the labour authority of each province where a branch or unit is located (Article 119(4)).

The name and level of the receiving office changed with the two-tier local government model. Article 119(5) lets the provincial authority delegate registration to the district level; Article 67 of Decree 129/2025/ND-CP moves that delegation to the commune-level office handling home affairs. At provincial level, Article 8(1) of Decree 150/2025/ND-CP makes the Department of Home Affairs the body that assists the provincial People's Committee in state management of labour, and Article 1 of Decree 276/2026/ND-CP places labour within the remit of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The procedure page on the National Public Service Portal names the performing body as the provincial home affairs office, or the commune-level office if the provincial office has delegated, where the company is registered for business; at provincial level that is the Department of Home Affairs. The split differs by locality: according to a Thu Vien Phap Luat summary of Official Letter 19597/SNV-LDTLBHXH of 28 September 2026 from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Home Affairs, the Department receives filings from state-owned enterprises and entities managed by the central government or the City, while the commune-level culture and social affairs offices keep receiving filings from private limited liability companies, joint stock companies that are not state-owned, private enterprises and partnerships, by delegation. Other provinces may divide the work differently, so ask the authority where the company is registered. Decree 129/2025/ND-CP expires on 1 March 2027 unless extended or replaced (Article 80(2)).

According to the procedure page on the National Public Service Portal (code 2.001955; we read it through search results and have not opened the decision that publishes the procedure), there is no fee and processing takes 7 working days from receipt of the file; the file can be submitted online through the Portal, and secondary sources say in-person and postal filing are also allowed. Companies in industrial or economic zones should ask the zone management board where to file, since the portal appears to list a separate procedure there.

What goes into the registration file?#

Article 120 lists four items: (1) a written request to register the rules; (2) the rules themselves; (3) the written comments of the employee representative organisation, where the workplace has one; (4) any other employer documents on labour discipline and material liability. The law gives no template for the request. Draft it to state the company name, number of employees, issue date and a list of attachments. Include any separate compensation or discipline policy; that is practical advice, and the law says nothing about the consequence of leaving it out.

When do internal labour rules take effect?#

Under Article 121, the rules take effect 15 days after the competent authority receives the complete registration file. The clock starts when a complete file is received, not on the issue date and not when the authority replies; if the file lacks an item that Article 120 requires of your company, the 15 days have not started. Applying rules that are not yet effective is an offence: Article 25(2)(d) of Decree 283 fines using rules that are not yet in force or have expired.

"10 days" and "15 days" are calendar days, unlike the "7 working days" in Article 119(3). We apply the Civil Code 2015: the first day of a period is not counted (Article 147), and if the last day falls on a weekend or public holiday the period ends on the next working day (Article 148(5)). That is our reading; labour law has no counting rule of its own.

Illustration, assuming the authority treats the file as complete on the day it is lodged: a company signs the rules on 2 November 2026 and files a complete dossier on 10 November 2026 (the last day to file is 12 November). The rules take effect after the end of 25 November, so for safety the company starts applying them from 26 November. A breach on 15 November cannot be disciplined under the new rules, and if the conduct is also absent from the old rules, the contract and the law, it cannot be disciplined at all (Article 127(3)). So write "effective as provided in Article 121 of the Labour Code" rather than a fixed date, and file immediately after signing.

Amendments also require prior consultation (Article 118(3)), but Articles 119 and 121 say nothing specific about how to register internal labour rules in Vietnam again after an amendment. One advisory article on Thu Vien Phap Luat (secondary) concludes that the law does not require registering again after an amendment. We still recommend treating an amended version as a new issue, filing it and applying the new text only after the 15 days, because that is the sure way to avoid being treated as applying rules that are not yet in force; this is a cautious reading, not the wording of the law.

How to issue internal labour rules in Vietnam, step by step#

Article 118(3) and (4) and Article 69(3) and (4) of Decree 145 require the following:

1. Draft the internal labour rules in Vietnam around the content groups in Article 118(2), without conflicting with labour law or related laws.
2. Consult the employee representative organisation at the workplace (the grassroots trade union or a worker organisation at the enterprise, Article 3(3)), where one exists. Under Article 41(1) of Decree 145 the employer sends the draft in writing; the employee side collects employees' views and compiles a written response for each organisation; the employer holds a dialogue, keeps signed minutes and, within 3 working days after the dialogue, publishes the main content. The written response goes into the file (Article 120(3)).
3. Sign and issue the rules and file within 10 days. In the same period, send the rules to each representative organisation, notify all employees, post the main content in suitable places at the workplace and keep proof.
4. Watch for the authority's reply within 7 working days; if asked to amend, amend and register again, and apply the rules only once the 15 days have run.

If there is no representative organisation, step 2 does not apply under Article 118(3) and the file needs no written comments; Article 44 of Decree 145 still recognises that employees may give opinions in a form chosen under the workplace democracy regulation. A private-sector employer may also opt in to the rules written for state enterprises under Law 10/2022/QH15 on Implementation of Democracy at the Grassroots Level (Article 82(1) and (2)), with notice to the trade union and public disclosure; that is an option, not an extra duty.

The law does not say who signs the rules. Article 18(3) names who may sign labour contracts for the employer, so have the legal representative sign, or a person with written authorisation.

What must internal labour rules in Vietnam contain?#

Article 118(2) lists nine content groups, and Article 69 of Decree 145 spells out what each must cover:

• Working time and rest (a) and order at the workplace (b): working hours, shifts, overtime and the types of leave; work area, conduct, dress, following assignments and transfers.
• Occupational safety and hygiene (c) and protection of property, business and technological secrets, intellectual property (dd): safety procedures, fire prevention, protective equipment; the list of assets and secrets and the conduct that breaches them.
• Sexual harassment prevention (d): under Article 85 of Decree 145, prohibition, concrete behaviours, internal procedure, complaints and denunciations, discipline, compensation and remedies; may sit in the rules or an annex.
• Temporary transfer to other work (e): the cases where business needs allow a temporary transfer (Article 29(1) of the Code).
• Discipline and material liability (g, h, i): specific violations and the matching sanction; cases requiring compensation and amounts matching the damage; who may impose discipline, being the person who signs labour contracts for the employer (Article 18(3)) or a person named in the rules.

Group e is often forgotten: a temporary transfer is limited to 60 cumulative working days a year; beyond that the employee must agree in writing. The law does not stop an employer adding other topics to its work rules in Vietnam (device use, email, social media) as long as they do not conflict with the law (Article 118(2)). If the rules reserve the right to check email, CCTV or biometric timekeeping, Article 25(3) of Law 91/2025/QH15 on Personal Data Protection allows technological or technical measures in managing employees only if they comply with the law, protect the data subject's rights and interests and are known to the employee; say which tool is used, for what purpose, who may view the data and for how long. See our handbook entries on employee personal data and CCTV and camera surveillance.

Internal labour rules in Vietnam and discipline: the main basis for sanctions#

The rules are the basis of labour discipline (Article 117). Three links matter:

• Only conduct with a basis can be disciplined. Article 127(3) bars discipline for conduct that the rules do not provide for, the labour contract does not cover and labour law does not address; doing so is fined under Article 25(3)(d) of Decree 283. If the conduct has a basis in any one of those three sources, this paragraph is not engaged.
• Some dismissal grounds are tied to the rules. Article 125(2) allows dismissal for disclosing business secrets, infringing intellectual property, causing serious damage or sexual harassment "as defined in the internal labour rules". On wording alone the phrase comes at the end of the sentence and could qualify only sexual harassment. We still read it as applying to the whole group: points d and dd of Article 69(2) of Decree 145/2020 require the rules to cover both sexual harassment prevention and the list of assets, business secrets and intellectual property with the acts that infringe them, and advisory articles on Thu Vien Phap Luat read it the same way. There is no official guidance on the point, so the rules should name these acts expressly. Article 125(4) lets the rules add cases that count as a justified reason for absence. Vague drafting ("serious breach of company policy") is hard to apply.
• Compensation under the rules. Article 129 allows compensation under the rules or the law, capped at 3 months of salary for non-serious damage caused by carelessness worth no more than 10 months of regional minimum wage (Article 129(1)). Our reading is that the rules cannot set a higher amount for that category. The procedure is in Article 71 of Decree 145.

Only four sanctions exist: reprimand, delay of a pay rise by up to 6 months, demotion and dismissal (Article 124). Fines or wage deductions instead of discipline are banned (Article 127(2)), so a clause such as "lateness is fined VND 200,000" is not allowed. The disciplinary meeting, minutes (Article 122 of the Code; Article 70 of Decree 145) and time limits (Article 123) are covered in our article on dismissal of employees in Vietnam and, for ending contracts other than by discipline, on terminating an employment contract in Vietnam.

Can an employer dismiss someone if its rules are not registered? It depends on the ground. If the rules are not yet effective, the risk is highest for the group in Article 125(2); paragraph 1 (theft, embezzlement, gambling, intentional injury, drugs at work), paragraph 3 (repeat offence) and paragraph 4 (unauthorised absence) do not carry the "defined in the internal labour rules" wording. Even so, using rules that are not yet in force is still fined under Article 25(2)(d) of Decree 283 (on our reading), and any dismissal must follow the procedure and time limits. There is no official guidance or case law on these readings.

Internal labour rules in Vietnam for foreign-invested companies: the global code versus the registered text#

Article 118 does not set a language for the rules; documents filed with Vietnamese authorities are normally in Vietnamese, and how to handle a bilingual version for staff who do not read Vietnamese is covered in our article on dismissal of employees in Vietnam. What is specific to the rules is their relationship with the group's global code. A translated global employee handbook in Vietnam supports discipline only when the conduct is already in the rules applied in Vietnam or in the labour contract (Article 127(3)); turn conflict of interest, gifts and anti-bribery policies into clauses and link them to the groups in Article 125. The Labour Code covers foreign employees working in Vietnam too (Article 2(3)), so they fall within the rules. When the group changes a global policy, review the registered text; anything that has to move into the rules goes back through consultation, filing and the 15-day wait.

What is the fine for not registering internal labour rules, and for related offences?#

Article 25 of Decree 283/2026/ND-CP fines the employer only. The amounts in Article 25 are the amounts for individuals; companies, branches and representative offices pay double (Article 7(1) and (2)(b); Article 25 is not among the exceptions), and household businesses pay as individuals (Article 7(3)). The three main bands, individual or household business / company or other organisation:

• VND 1–3 million / VND 2–6 million (Article 25(1)): not notifying the rules to all employees or not posting the main content.
• VND 5–10 million / VND 10–20 million (Article 25(2)): no written rules with 10 or more employees (point a); not registering the rules as required (point b); not consulting the representative organisation before issuing or amending (point c); using rules not yet in force or expired (point d); discipline or compensation in breach of procedure or time limit (point dd).
• VND 20–40 million / VND 40–80 million (Article 25(3)): fines or wage cuts instead of discipline (point c); disciplining conduct not in the rules, contract or law (point d).

The offences in Article 25(2)(dd) and (3)(d) also bring an order to take the employee back and pay wages for the days off, where the employee was dismissed (Article 25(4)(a)); for Article 25(3)(c) the order is to return the money collected or pay the wages in full (Article 25(4)(d)). The limitation period is one year (Article 3(4)(a)). Decree 12/2022/ND-CP ceased to apply on 10 September 2026 (Article 66(4)); conduct that ended before that date falls under the old decree, and conduct continuing after it falls under Decree 283 (Article 67). The bigger risk than the fine is that a disciplinary decision is treated as unsupported in a dispute; that is our inference from Articles 127(3) and 121, with no official guidance or case law yet.

A common mistake is downloading a template, signing and posting it but never filing: the company has written rules, so Article 25(2)(a) does not apply, but it has failed to register (point b) and, on our reading, applies rules that are not yet in force (point d), because the 15-day period never started. Smaller slips: leaving out temporary transfer and sexual harassment prevention; keeping no proof of notice and posting; forgetting to send the registered text to a branch in another province; amending without consulting the representative organisation again; a "lateness fine" clause (contrary to Article 127(2), fined under Article 25(3)(c)). A company that moves its registered office to another province should review where the rules are registered, because Article 119 uses the place of business registration as the anchor; see our article on changing the registered address in Vietnam.

LexData can draft internal labour rules, prepare the registration file and review existing rules before a disciplinary case, including a bilingual version for foreign-invested companies. See our Vietnam employment law advice service. The legal texts are summarised in the Labour Code, Decree 145/2020/ND-CP and Decree 283/2026/ND-CP. This article is general information, not advice on a specific file.