Existing labour laws do not force Employees to sign commitments with Employers such as maintenance of the corporate properties, failure to sexually harass in the workplace upon their job commencement. However, if Employers intend to apply disciplinary measures to Employees when they breach these commitments, such commitments and the remedies permitted by the law should be documented at least in Employers’ ILRs. In principle, Employers can only discipline Employees if they have committed a violation specified in the ILRs (that have been registered)[1]. Accordingly, when new Employees enter a work, the essential thing is that Employers just requires them to sign after having read and understood the ILRs. Note that these commitments must be consistent with the current labour laws. This alternative is feasible if the number of Employees is small and any Employer’s human resources department appoints any person to manage these signed commitments and keep them for use when necessary.
For job positions where there is a high risk of violation or the management level, depending on the specific nature of each job, Employees will be required to sign additional commitments with more detailed content and under higher level of sanctions than other regular Employees due to their specific job positions.
In addition, there will be no negative impact on LCs if Employers wish to include the said commitments in LCs. However, due to any too long commitment and/or security of the commitment information, the parties cannot record such commitment and confidential information in LC because this will change the format. Instead, an appendix to LC will be made and signed at the same time with the LC.
[1] Article 128.3 of the Labour Code 2012