Failure to organize periodic dialogues at the workplace, fined up to 20 million VND

Legal Consulting Department of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Article 21, Decree 283/2026/ND-CP stipulates penalties for administrative violations in the fields of labor, social insurance, and Vietnamese workers going to work abroad under contracts (effective from September 10, 2026) as follows:

A fine of between 5 million VND and 10 million VND shall be imposed on employers for one of the following acts:

1. Not building, promulgating or amending, supplementing grassroots democracy regulations at the workplace in accordance with the law.

2. Do not organize periodic dialogues at the workplace; do not conduct dialogues when requested; do not coordinate to organize employee conferences in accordance with the law.

3. Not publicizing the main content of the dialogue or democracy regulations at the grassroots level at the workplace or contents that must be publicized including: list of representative members participating in the dialogue of the employer and the employee; production and business situation of the employer; labor regulations, salary scales, salary tables, labor norms, regulations, rules and other regulations of the employer related to the rights, obligations and responsibilities of employees; collective labor agreements in which the employer participates; the establishment and use of bonus funds, welfare funds and funds contributed by employees (if any); the contribution of trade union funds, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance; the situation of emulation, commendation, discipline, settlement of complaints and denunciations related to the rights, obligations and interests of employees; other contents as prescribed by law.

4. Do not arrange locations, time and other necessary material conditions to organize dialogues at the workplace.

5. Not assigning or assigning incorrect representative members of the employer to participate in dialogues at the workplace as prescribed.

6. Do not consult the opinions of employee representative organizations at the grassroots level (if any) and employee dialogue representative groups (if any) when building, amending, and supplementing grassroots democracy regulations at the workplace.

7. Failure to report on the implementation of dialogue and grassroots democracy regulations at the workplace to state management agencies on labor when requested.

Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP stipulates the level of fines and principles of application for repeated administrative violations as follows:

1. The penalty level stipulated for administrative violations specified in Chapter II, Chapter III and Chapter IV of this Decree is the penalty level for individuals; except for cases specified in: Article 8; Article 9; Clause 3, Article 10; Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 19; Clauses 2, 4, Article 36; Clause 1, Article 37; Clauses 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 38; Clause 3, Article 42; Clauses 6, 11, Article 48; Article 49; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Article 50; Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Article 52; Clause 4, Article 53 of this Decree is the penalty level for organizations. The penalty level for organizations is 2 times the penalty level for individuals.

Thus, from September 10, 2026, businesses that do not organize periodic dialogues at the workplace may be fined up to 20 million VND.