Question 126. If an Employer issue an internal Code of Practice promoting gender equality and preventing discrimination at the workplace, and/or a Code of Conduct regarding sexual harassment at the workplace, could the Employer uses these Codes as a basis to impose disciplinary actions on an offending Employee?

Answer:

According to Article 127 of the Labour Code, one of the preconditions for an Employer to impose a disciplinary action on an Employee is that the committed violations of the Employee must be prescribed in one of the following documents: ILR, LC, or must be clearly specified in the Labour Code. Furthermore, if the Employer hires 10 Employees or more, the ILR must be registered with the local competent labour management agency in order to have it become effective.

Therefore, if the enterprise issue internal policies (such as the aforementioned Code of Practice promoting gender equality and preventing discrimination at the workplace, Code of Conduct regarding sexual harassment at the workplace) then these internal policies must not be contrary to related regulations prescribed in the Labour Code, or the LCs, or the registered ILR[1]. Only then the Employer will have solid legal ground to proceed with imposing disciplinary actions on the offending Employee.


[1] Article 127.3 of the Labour Code