Employment law
Drafting the internal rules
In Kayes, the Kayes Agro-Services packing station takes on twenty-eight people for the mango season. The manager wants internal rules in place before the first pallets: staggered hours, forklifts, a cold room. She opens her word processor and starts with a list of what she wants to forbid. That is exactly where not to start.
Kayes Agro-Services is a fictional company. It serves only as an example throughout this article.
1. Three checks before writing the first line
Drafting internal rules is not a matter of writing down what the company wishes to forbid. The content is bounded by law, the procedure imposes its deadlines, and the labour inspector checks compliance before any stamp. Three questions are therefore settled before drafting begins.
| Check | Why it governs everything that follows |
|---|---|
| Does the headcount reach ten employees? | Above it, the rules are compulsory; below it, they remain possible but follow the same procedure |
| Have staff delegates been properly elected? | With no counterparts, the consultation cannot be carried out and the file will be declared incomplete |
| Which collective agreement applies? | It may already settle certain points; the rules can neither contradict it nor reduce its benefits |
A fourth, strategic question: does the document already exist under another name? An “internal charter” or a service note setting permanent disciplinary rules falls under the internal-rules regime, whatever it is called. Better to fold it into the draft than to let it live alongside. On the general regime, see Internal rules.
You do not draft what you want to forbid. You draft the four matters the law allows.
2. The plan: four parts, because the law provides for four
The plan follows directly from the exhaustive content set by article L.64 of the Labour Code. Four parts, framed by a preamble and final provisions. Nothing else.
| Part | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Preamble | Purpose, scope, persons covered, interaction with the collective agreement and the contracts |
| I. Technical organisation of work | Hours, entry and exit, time control, absences and lateness, use of premises, equipment and vehicles |
| II. Health and safety | Applicable requirements, protective equipment, what to do after an accident, medical examinations |
| III. Discipline | Expected conduct, scale of sanctions, how they are imposed |
| IV. Arrangements for paying wages | Frequency, date, place and form of payment, handing over the payslip |
| Final provisions | Date of entry into force, how to amend, places of posting |
At Kayes Agro-Services, that plan forces an immediate sort: the seasonal bonus grid comes out of the draft, the cold-room instructions go in.
3. Drafting discipline: describe facts, grade sanctions, exclude what is forbidden
This is the most read and the most contested part. Three principles govern its drafting.
Describe conduct, not people
A useful rule states a verifiable fact: “leaving one’s post without authorisation”, “not wearing the protective equipment provided”, “driving a forklift without certification”. A useless rule states a judgement: “showing negligence”, “lacking professionalism”. On the day of the sanction, it is the fact that can be proved, not the judgement.
Set a scale, without automatism
The scale shows the gradation. It does not require climbing the steps one by one, but the sanction must remain proportionate to the facts.
| Sanction | Scope | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | Written call to order | - |
| Reprimand | More serious written sanction, placed on file | - |
| Suspension from duty | Suspends both the contract and the salary | Eight days at most |
| Termination of contract | Where the facts justify it | Statutory regime applicable to the contract concerned |
Exclude what is forbidden
No fine, no pecuniary sanction, no deduction from wages by way of discipline. Such clauses will not be stamped, and would have no effect if they were (Labour Code, articles L.34, L.69 and L.121).
In practice, it is useful to provide that the worker is given the chance to explain himself before any sanction other than a warning, and to keep a written record of that exchange. On how a sanction unfolds, see Sanctioning without getting it wrong.
| What you need to do |
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4. Drafting health and safety: operational, never declaratory
Rules that merely say “everyone looks after their own safety” add nothing. Operational rules say where the equipment is, who is alerted and within what time. Three blocks are usually enough.
- Permanent requirements: protective equipment provided and compulsory, restricted-access zones, prohibitions attached to hazardous posts.
- What to do in an incident: who is alerted, within what time, in what form, and who records the event.
- Medical follow-up: compulsory examinations, the duty to attend, no loss of pay.
At Kayes Agro-Services, that becomes three concrete lines: gloves and safety shoes provided and worn in the packing area, cold-room access restricted to certified staff, every incident reported to the station manager within the hour and entered in the register.
5. Drafting the pay arrangements: the calendar, never the amounts
Watch the perimeter: the rules deal with the arrangements for payment, not the amounts. You write the frequency, the date, the place and the form of payment, and how the payslip is handed over.
You write in neither the pay grids, nor the bonuses, nor individual pay terms: those belong to the contract, the collective agreement or an establishment agreement. A pay clause slipped into internal rules is the most frequent reason for refusing a stamp.
The rules say when and where the salary is paid. They never say how much.
6. Back-planning: about two and a half months after the draft
Once the draft is written, putting the rules in place takes about two and a half months. That period cannot be compressed: it is made of three statutory deadlines running one after the other.
| Step | Deadline | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Writing the draft | Variable | - |
| Communication to the staff delegates and collection of their written observations | 15 days | D+15 |
| Transmission to the labour inspector, in duplicate, with the observations | - | D+15 |
| Review by the inspector: stamp, or request for withdrawal or amendment | 1 month | D+45 |
| Waiting period before entry into force | 20 days | about D+65 |
These three deadlines are set by articles L.65, L.66 and L.68 of the Labour Code. No reply from the delegates within fifteen days counts as acceptance, so silence never blocks the calendar.
Example. Kayes Agro-Services wants rules applicable on 1 May, the day the season opens.
- Desired entry into force: 1 May.
- Stamp needed by: 11 April, twenty days earlier.
- Transmission to the inspectorate by: 11 March, one month earlier.
- Draft handed to the delegates by: 24 February, fifteen days earlier.
The draft must therefore be written at the end of February, not the end of April. A company that discovers the procedure three weeks before its season opens will work the whole season without enforceable rules.
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7. The read-through before transmission
Nine questions are enough to rule out the most common reasons for refusing a stamp. One bad answer, and the file goes back.
- Does the draft stay within the four permitted areas?
- Does any clause set amounts of remuneration?
- Does any fine, pecuniary sanction or disciplinary deduction appear in it?
- Is there any distinction based on sex, family situation, or political or religious beliefs?
- Is suspension from duty properly capped at eight days?
- Does the draft contradict or reduce a benefit under the collective agreement?
- Are the delegates’ written observations attached, signed in the original?
- Is the file being sent in duplicate?
- Are the places of posting identified in the final provisions?
A closer look: amending rules that have already been stamped
An amendment is not a discreet side letter. It follows exactly the same procedure as adoption: fifteen days of consultation with the delegates, transmission to the inspector in duplicate, a stamp within the month, then twenty days before application. The sixty-five-day clock therefore starts again from zero.
Two practical consequences. First, it is better to group amendments than to file one every quarter. Second, an organisational change planned for a fixed date (a new night shift, for instance) has to be prepared more than two months ahead, failing which it is introduced with no enforceable basis.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Check the headcount, the existence of elected delegates and the applicable collective agreement before writing.
- Build the plan on the four permitted matters, and take out of the draft everything that falls outside them.
- Draft discipline in observable facts, with a scale of sanctions and no fine of any kind.
- In the pay section, write the when, the where and the how of payment, never the how much.
- Count sixty-five days backwards from the desired date of entry into force.
- Run the nine read-through questions before sending the file to the inspectorate.