The establishment’s internal regulations: when they are required and what they must contain
The Law Office of Ali Barakat, from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, sets out when a private project is required to prepare internal regulations, what they must contain, and how they are approved and posted. The source is article 136 of Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, published in the Official Gazette, issue 4386, of 9/11/2015, together with the posting duty in article 107. This page is the angle of the duty and the procedure. It is not the reading of what the Law requires the substance of the rules to contain, which is set out in What the Labour Law requires of internal workplace rules.
The threshold of ten workers, and what the rules must contain
An employer covered by this Law who regularly employs ten or more workers must put written rules in place covering, under article 136, first, six heads: when the project opens, when work starts, and daily and weekly rest; what is paid as the wage and as overtime; how occupational safety and health are managed; what is required of workers in performing the work and in disciplinary matters; annual and special leave; and who supervises the work, by name and by title. The threshold is a regular workforce of ten or more. A project that remains below that number is not placed under this duty of preparation by the first paragraph. It remains subject to the rest of the Law, including whatever posting article 107 may require.
The Ministry issues models that employers may be guided by when drafting, and the Department of Employment and Loans may help the employer prepare them if asked, under the second paragraph. The text is prepared after discussion with the workers’ representatives in the project, if any, within a period of three months running from the opening of the project, or from the Law coming into force if the project was already in existence, under the third paragraph.
Approval, posting, and invalidity
The employer must submit the internal regulations, before they are put into effect, to the Department of Employment and Loans or to the legal section for approval, or when they are amended. The employer is to be notified of approval in the final or amended form within thirty days of submission; otherwise the internal regulations are treated as approved on the expiry of that period, under the fourth paragraph. The body to which the regulations are submitted in that paragraph is the Department or the legal section, as the text names them. The employer posts the internal regulations in a prominent place at the workplace after they have been approved, and must keep them in good and legible condition, under the fifth paragraph. Any term in the internal regulations that diminishes the workers’ rights laid down in this Law or in a collective agreement is void, under the sixth paragraph.
Article 107 requires that a notice of hours of work and rest times be placed in a prominent position at the work premises, that a copy of it reach labour inspection, and that the project’s own occupational safety instructions be placed there with it. That duty of posting and of notice to inspection is read with article 136 and does not replace it: article 136 draws when the rules are prepared, what they contain, and how they are approved; article 107 draws what is posted and notified to labour inspection. Labour inspection is in Labour inspection and the powers of the inspection committee, and safety procedures are in The employer’s occupational safety and health duties.
Internal rules, where they exist, are a source of the parties’ obligations: article 49 allows the worker to end the contract without notice if the employer breaches an obligation laid down in the internal rules, as in the Law or in the contract. The disciplinary rules the regulations contain are read with Chapter Fourteen, including that a penalty is imposed within the limits and time-limits the text draws after article 136.
The office reads this procedure from Baghdad. The file may ask: does the number of workers regularly employed reach ten or more? Were the rules prepared within the time-limit? Were they submitted to the Department or the legal section? Have thirty days passed without notice? Were they posted after approval? And do they contain a term that diminishes a right the Law draws?
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
From what number of workers is preparation of internal regulations required?
Article 136, first, requires an employer who regularly employs ten or more workers to prepare internal rules on the matters the text lists.
Which body approves the rules, and what is the effect of thirty days passing?
The regulations are submitted, before they are applied, to the Department of Employment and Loans or to the legal section. If the employer is not notified of approval within thirty days of submission, the regulations are treated as approved on the expiry of that period, under the fourth paragraph.
May the internal regulations diminish a right drawn by the Labour Law?
No. Article 136, sixth, makes void any term in the internal regulations that diminishes the workers’ rights laid down in this Law or in a collective agreement.
Related topics and articles
- 01What does the Labour Law require of workplace internal rules? A statutory readingWhat Labour Law 37/2015 requires of workplace internal rules: the content in article 136, and posting under article 107, not the filing steps.
- 02The employer’s occupational safety and health dutiesEmployer and worker occupational safety duties under articles 113–123 of Labour Law 37/2015, and the role of the National Center.
- 03Labour inspection and the powers of the inspection committeePowers of labour inspection committees under articles 126–133 of Labour Law 37/2015: unannounced entry, records, and sampling.
- 04End-of-service entitlements under Labour Law No. 37 of 2015The end-of-service gratuity under Labour Law 37/2015: the two-week formula, the statutory exceptions, and how it differs from benefits under Law 18/2023.
- 05Which labour and social-security rules apply in the governorates and in the Kurdistan Region?The reach of Labour Law 37/2015 and Law 18/2023 in the governorates not organised in a region, and how work is organised in the Kurdistan Region.