Answer:
- Invitation of the required participants, convening and chairing the meeting on labour discipline.
Pursuant to Article 69.2 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP of the Government dated 14 December 2020 and Article 18.3 of Labour Code, steps in this procedure shall be carried out by one of the following subjects: (i) the legal representative of the enterprise or the person authorised by the legal representative to sign LCs; or (ii) the authorised person specified in the ILR. Thus, if the legal representative authorises in writing to the head of the human resource department to sign the LCs with the Employees, the head of the human resource department can conduct a meeting on the labour discipline against the Employees.
The Labour Code does not allow any person who is authorised to enter into LC with the Employees to re-authorise another person to do so. According to the labour laws, only the person authorised to enter into n LC in the Employer’s side is entitled to conduct the meeting on labour discipline. Thus, invitation of the required participants, convening and chairing the meeting on the labour discipline shall only be conducted by one of the above-mentioned persons.
Regarding the person authorised to enter into LCs, the Labour Code does not have a detailed definition of this title. According to the consultation from an officer of the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, it was advised that the person authorised to enter into a LC should be identified on an individual basis, not on the title basis, such as the legal representative of enterprise. For example, if, in the past, Mr. A (working as Director of human resources) was authorised to sign LCs with the Employees, then Mr. A will have the right to carry out the procedures to invite required participants, convene and chair the meeting on labour discipline against any of the Employees. On the other hand, if at the time of handling labour discipline on the Employees, Mr. A no longer works for the enterprise, and at the same time, the job position of Mr. A has been replaced by Ms. B, then Ms. B will not have the authority to handle the labour discipline. In this case, only the legal representative of the enterprise is the competent person to represent the enterprise to conduct the labour discipline.
2. Competence to sign decisions on handling of labour discipline
Similarly, the decision on labour discipline against an Employee is only signed by the authorised person and that person is not allowed to be re-authorised to one of the following individuals[1]: (i) the legal representative of the enterprise or the person who is authorised by the legal representative to sign the LCs; or (ii) an authorised person as specified in the ILR.
[1] Article 70.4 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP of the Government dated on 14 December 2020
