What does the Labour Law require of workplace internal rules? A statutory reading
The Law Office of Ali Barakat, from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, sets out what Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 requires of workplace internal rules, as published in the Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4386, of 9/11/2015. The reading here is of the substantive rules in articles 107 and 136, and of the worker's rights and the employer's duties that meet them. The steps for preparing the rules, presenting them for approval and posting them after approval belong on the page Workplace internal regulations.
What must the internal rules contain?
An employer covered by the Law who regularly employs ten or more workers must prepare internal rules on the matters listed in article 136, First: the hour at which the project opens, working hours, when work starts, and daily and weekly rest; the amount of the wage and of overtime pay; occupational safety and health procedures; the workers' obligations and the rules of discipline; annual leave and special leave; and the names and job titles of the supervisors of the work. Those headings are the minimum the text requires of an employer who has reached the threshold of ten workers.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issues model internal rules for guidance, and the Department of Employment and Loans may help the employer prepare the rules if the employer so requests, under article 136, Second. Guidance from a model does not remove the need to adapt the rules to the nature of the project, and it does not authorise a provision that diminishes a right conferred by the Law or by a collective agreement in force. Any provision in the internal rules that diminishes the rights of workers laid down in the Labour Law or in a collective agreement is void, under article 136, Sixth. That rule meets article 14, which treats the rights in the Law as a minimum, and which voids any condition in a contract or agreement by which the worker waives a right conferred by the Law.
The employer must prepare the rules after consulting the workers' representatives in the project, if there are any, under article 136, Third. Consultation is a step the text requires before the rules are put into effect. It is not collective bargaining that concludes in a collective agreement, which is explained on the page Unions and collective agreements.
Posting in a visible place, and safety instructions
Article 107 requires the employer to post, in a visible place at the workplace, internal work rules for the project showing working hours and rest periods, a copy of which is to be notified to labour inspection, and to post the instructions on occupational safety and health in the project. Posting after approval, and keeping the text readable at the workplace, is a complementary rule in article 136, Fifth. The substantive reading here is that the worker must be able to see the hours, the rest periods and the safety instructions in a visible place, and that a copy of the rules reaches labour inspection. The detail of filing and of the time limits after the project opens, or after the Law came into force, belongs on the procedural page already mentioned.
Safety instructions are not a general phrase. Under article 41, the employer must provide healthy conditions at the workplace and the precautions needed to protect the worker during work, and must explain the risks of the work and inform the worker of them before the contract is made. The detail of occupational safety and health duties is on the page Occupational safety duties. Internal rules, from this angle, are a means of setting out the safety procedures the Law requires in the project, not a substitute for them.
The amount of the wage and of overtime pay, which form part of the content required by article 136, is read together with the wage and working-hours provisions of the Law itself: wages are paid under the articles that govern them; daily working hours may not exceed eight hours, or forty-eight hours in the week, subject to the exceptions drawn by article 67; and overtime is defined in article 71. The detail is on the page The employer's legal duties to the worker, and on the page Annual leave and overtime. The rules may not lower those limits, and a provision that diminishes them is void.
What effect do the rules have on the employment relationship and on its ending?
The employer must respect and apply the terms of the employment contract, collective agreements and the provisions of the Law, under article 41. The worker must perform the duties assigned, in accordance with the employment contract, the Law, and the workplace rules issued by the employer, in so far as that does not conflict with the Law, under article 42. Internal rules therefore bind only within the limits of what does not contradict the Law. They are not a pretext for reducing a right or for imposing a duty the text does not allow.
Article 49 makes a breach by the employer of one of the obligations laid down in the Law, in the internal work rules, or in the individual employment contract a cause that allows the worker to end the contract unilaterally without prior notice, and to seek the compensation to which that article refers. Rules prepared under article 136 are therefore part of the framework against which a breach by the employer is measured, not merely an internal notice without legal effect.
If a dispute arises over the application of the rules, or over a provision said to diminish a statutory right, the dispute may be referred to the Department of Employment and Loans and then to the Court of Labor under articles 157, 165 and 166, as explained on the page Ending an employment contract and on the page on disputes before they reach the court.
The office follows this reading from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk.
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
Who is required to prepare internal rules under article 136?
An employer covered by the Labour Law who regularly employs ten or more workers. The text identifies the matters that are to be included in those rules.
May the internal rules contain a provision that reduces the worker's leave or the statutory wage?
No. Any provision in the internal rules that diminishes the rights of workers laid down in the Labour Law or in a collective agreement is void, under article 136, Sixth, and together with article 14, which voids a waiver by the worker of a right conferred by the Law.
What does article 107 require to be posted at the workplace?
Internal rules showing working hours and rest periods, a copy of which is notified to labour inspection, and the instructions on occupational safety and health in the project, in a visible place.
Where are the steps for approval and posting after the rules have been prepared?
On the page Workplace internal regulations, which stays with the procedural side. This page stays with what the text requires as to content and effect.
Related topics and articles
- 01The establishment’s internal regulations: when they are required and what they must containThe duty of an employer who regularly employs ten or more workers to prepare internal rules under article 136, their contents, approval, and posting.
- 02An employer’s duties to staff in Iraq, arranged by when they fall dueA timeline of the private-sector employer’s legal duties in Iraq: before hiring, on every payday, every working day, every year, and when the job ends, with the articles behind each.
- 03The 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.
- 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.