In the management practice of some Vietnamese enterprises, internal labor regulations are often seen as a formal internal management tool. A regulation is issued for "sufficient documentation" rather than for substantive operation. However, when labor disputes arise, especially disputes over labor discipline in the form of dismissal, labor regulations become one of the factors that directly determine the outcome of the case.
The law not only requires "internal rules", but also sets out the conditions for internal rules to be legally valid
The Appellate Labor Judgment No. 54/2025/LD-PT of the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City is a typical example[1] (Judgment 54). The case revolves around a dispute over the disciplinary handling of a dismissal of an international school principal who was accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. The dispute does not only stop at "whether or not there is a violation", but also extends to more core issues: whether the internal labor regulations are effective or not, whether they are applied retroactively, and whether the disciplinary process complies with the law.
Legal framework on internal labor regulations in Vietnam
According to the Labor Code 2019, labor regulations are placed at the center of the labor discipline regime. Article 118 of this Code stipulates that employers must promulgate internal rules; if employing 10 or more employees, the internal regulations must be in writing and must be registered with the State management agency.
Notably, the law not only requires "internal rules", but also sets out the conditions for internal rules to be legally valid: (1) Must be promulgated in accordance with authority; (2) Must be consulted with the employee's representative organization; (3) Must be duly registered; (4) Must be publicized and disseminated; (5) The content must not be unlawful. At the same time, Article 127 of the Labor Code also clearly states: no disciplinary action shall be taken for acts not specified in the internal labor regulations.
These regulations are concretized in Decree 145/2020/ND-CP and sanctions in Decree 12/2022/ND-CP on handling administrative violations in the field of labor.
The value of internal labor regulations in disputes
Internal labor regulations are the "standard for evaluating behavior"
In labor disputes, the Court must not only consider the employee's behavior, but also compare that act with the provisions of the current labor law; The labor contract exists between the parties and especially the company's legal labor regulations.
In Judgment 54, the enterprise (the defendant in the case) invoked the internal labor regulations to determine that sexual harassment is a serious violation and a legitimate basis for dismissal discipline. On the other hand, the plaintiff countered that: This Labor Regulation was issued after the time of the act, was not disseminated to the employee, and showed signs of "redesign" to match the allegation.
The dispute shows that the Internal Regulations are not only the basis for determining the violation, but also the object of dispute about the legality between the parties involved.
Labor regulations are a legal condition when dismissing employees
A particularly important point is that for sexual harassment, the law allows dismissal only if the act is specified in the labor regulations.
In Judgment 54, the enterprise cited that Clause 2, Article 125 of the Labor Code 2019 as well as the company's registered Labor Regulations specifically stipulated that sexual harassment was one of the cases entitled to apply the disciplinary form of dismissal.
This shows that the role of internal rules is not only "complementary", but in many cases a prerequisite for legal disciplinary action. And Judgment 54 is a good example.
Labor regulations are a tool for allocating the burden of proof
According to Article 122 of the Labor Code, the employer must prove the employee's fault. However, this proof is inseparable from the rules. Rules help determine: Which acts are considered violations; The extent of the employee's violation; and corresponding forms of labor discipline. In many labor cases in Vietnam in recent times, disputes have largely arisen from the fact that enterprises believe that there are enough witness testimonies. On the other hand, the employee said that there was no direct evidence and the rules were invalid. Therefore, internal labor regulations are an important basis for shaping the scope of proof and evidence evaluation standards.
Internal labor regulations are an important basis for shaping the scope of proof and evidence evaluation standards.
Legal issues from practice
From the practice of adjudication, especially through Judgment 54 mentioned above, it is possible to identify a number of core legal issues related to internal labor regulations as follows:
Validity of labor regulations
One of the biggest points of debate in practice is the validity of labor regulations. The law clearly stipulates that the internal rules take effect only after being registered and after a certain period of time from the time the competent agency receives a valid dossier. However, in reality, many businesses still operate internal rules in a way that "promulgated is effective".
The problem becomes more complicated when the rules are issued or amended after the time of the violation. The question is: can the rules be applied to acts that have occurred before but are still within the statute of limitations? This is a significant legal gap, because the current law does not have clear provisions on the application of "retrospective" in this case. However, in our opinion, in case the internal regulations are issued after the violation is committed, it is very easy for the employee to prove that the enterprise is at fault when disciplining the employee in the form of dismissal. Because as analyzed above, Vietnamese law clearly delineates that enterprises are only allowed to be disciplined for dismissal when the acts are specified in the internal regulations and moreover, these internal regulations have been legally registered – recognized and effective by the State.
The boundary between internal rules and policies
A common practice in enterprises is that many types of documents such as internal labor regulations, employee handbooks, codes of conduct or other internal policies exist simultaneously. However, legally, these documents are not equally valid.
In disputes, only labor regulations that have been issued and registered in accordance with regulations can be used as a direct basis for disciplinary action. Other documents may act as supplements, but cannot replace the internal labor regulations.
Confusion between these types of documents leads to great risks such as businesses may believe that they have "internal regulations", but when disputes occur, there is no solid legal basis to protect their decisions.
Evidence and internal investigation process
Another noteworthy point is the relationship between labor regulations and the evidence system. Rules not only regulate prohibited behavior, but also indirectly shape how businesses collect, evaluate, and use evidence.
This is especially evident in sensitive cases such as sexual harassment in the workplace. A type of case where direct evidence is often limited, and businesses rely heavily on testimony, internal reflections or indirect documents.
In this context, if the internal rules do not clearly stipulate the processing process, confidentiality principles, or verification methods, then the entire internal investigation process may be questioned by the relevant parties in terms of objectivity and legality.
Rules and limitations of the right to take disciplinary action
Another core issue is the limitation of the right to handle labor discipline. The law allows employers to handle violations, but at the same time sets the principle: only handled for acts that have been specified in the internal labor regulations.
This means that the labor code not only empowers, but also "limits the rights" of the business. If the internal rules are not clearly stipulated or the regulations are inappropriate, the enterprise may lose the legal basis to apply disciplinary forms, even in cases where the violation is real.
Recommendations for businesses
The practice of labor disputes shows a noteworthy point: many businesses only begin to review labor regulations when disputes have arisen. At that time, all adjustments are "firefighting" and it is difficult to save legal risks. To minimize risks, enterprises should register labor regulations at the labor management agency as soon as possible, even if there have not been any disputes.
First of all, businesses need to change their approach: internal labor regulations are not an administrative procedure, but a legal tool. This requires that the rules must be designed according to the logic of proof, with specific regulations, which can be identified and verified. General concepts such as "inappropriate behavior" or "influence of the working environment" should not be included in the labor regulations.
In addition, the legal effect of the internal regulations should be absolutely guaranteed. Enterprises must fully implement the process of consultation, registration and publicity, and at the same time store evidence of the dissemination of internal regulations to employees. In fact, there are many cases where businesses fail in disputes not because of wrong handling, but because they cannot prove that the rules are legally valid.
Another common risk is the "legalization" of decisions by internal labor regulations. This means that the business will issue or amend the rules after the incident occurs. This practice can be considered retroactively applied to the employee's detriment and is easily rejected by the Court when a dispute occurs.
In addition, labor regulations need to be operated with the same evidence system and internal processing process. A disciplinary decision can only be defended when it is accompanied by complete documentation, from the minutes of the violation, the notice of the meeting to the documentation of the fault.
Finally, businesses need to clearly distinguish labor regulations from other internal policies such as employee handbooks or codes of conduct. Only valid internal labor regulations have direct legal validity in disciplinary action.
In general, in labor disputes, internal regulations are the first and most important legal basis. If this line of defense is weak, all the arguments behind it become fragile and disadvantageous to the business. Adjudication practice shows that whether a disciplinary decision is legal or not depends not only on the behavior of the employee, but also on how the enterprise develops, registers and applies its internal rules. This shows that internal labor regulations are gradually moving beyond the role of an internal management document of the enterprise to become a real legal standard in labor disputes.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Phuc
HM&P Law Firm
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