Question 143: May Employers take LD action against Employees’ violations of the general principles set out in the ILR?



Pursuant to the Labor Code, Employers are banned from imposing LD on Employees who shows the violating acts that are not specified in the ILRs[1]. Accordingly, in order to impose LD on Employees, Employers must have their ILR clearly providing for Employees’ violations that will be subject to LD as well as the corresponding forms of disciplinary action. The regulations aim to ensure Employees’ right to know in advance about the violations and the sanctions to which they may be subjected in case of their ILR violation. Thereby, Employees can better understand and comply with the ILRs.

Thus, where Employers only set out the general principle of requiring Employees to comply with the ILR like “Employees are absolutely banned from drinking alcohol or beer at the workplace” without specifying any type of violation to impose discipline thereon as well as any form of LD action Employers apply to each specific violating act, they cannot discipline Employee for any violation. If Employers impose any form of LD on the acts that are not specified in the ILR as prescribed by law, they can face multiple legal risks. Employees will then have the advantage in lodging their complaints or initiating lawsuits at the competent court against the LD by Employers. Therefore, where the ILR falls into one of the said cases, Employers should promptly revise the ILR and re-register it, clearly defining the types of violations and forms of LD for every single act as the basis for them to deal with LD later.


[1]Article 128.3 Labor Code