Answer:
Pursuant to Article 127.3 of the Labour Code, an Employer shall not take any disciplinary action against an Employee for any violation that is not prescribed in the ILR or in LCs or specified in detail according to the Labour Code.
At the same time, according to the Labour Code, ILR is mandatory instruments issued by an Employer when employing 10 Employees or more, and the ILR includes regulations regarding violations subject to labour discipline, disciplinary measures, and material responsibilities [1]. Accordingly, the ILR of the enterprise must be consulted with the organisation representing the Employees at the grassroots level for any enterprise having the organisation representing the Employees at the Grassroots level [2], and registered it at a labour specialised agency of the Provincial People’s Committee[3], as well as publicized the main content thereof at necessary locations at the workplace[4]. The ILR will come into effect after 15 days from the date that the competent State authority receives sufficient ILR registration dossier[5].
As mentioned above, apart from the ILR (including both ILR registered with the competent labour authority if the Employer employs 10 Employees or more, and ILR self-issued if the Employer employs less than 10 Employees), provisions in LCs concluding with the Employees or specifying violations in the Labour Code are the legal grounds for the Employer to impose disciplinary actions on the offending Employees. If the Employer insists on imposing disciplinary actions without legal grounds, Employers may be subject to the sanction with an administrative fine of up to 10,000,000 VND for any Employer being an individual or up to 20,000,000 VND for any Employer being an organisation, and the Employer shall be forced to receive the Employees back to work if the disciplinary action taken is under the form of dismissal[6].
[1] Article 118 of the Labour Code
[2] Article 118.3 of the Labour Code
[3] Article 119.1 of the Labour Code
[4] Article 118.4 of the Labour Code
[5] Article 119 and Article 121 of the Labour Code
[6] Article 3.1 and Article 15.3 (c) of Decree 95/2013/ND-CP of the Government dated 16 October 2015, amended, supplemented by Decree 88/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 07 October /2015
