Internal work rules in Peru: when they are mandatory and how to localize the handbook

Every multinational has an employee handbook. Few realize that in Peru, once a local employer has more than 100 workers, the handbook is not enough. Peruvian law requires a specific instrument, the Reglamento Interno de Trabajo (internal work rules, often abbreviated RIT), with prescribed content, a filing step with the labor authority and a delivery obligation. It is the document inspectors ask for when they review discipline, working hours or attendance control, and the one courts look at when a sanction is challenged.

For regional HR and compliance teams, the challenge is not drafting from scratch. It is building a local instrument that satisfies Peruvian formalities while staying consistent with group policy. This article explains the legal requirements and a practical way to localize the handbook without creating a second rulebook. It forms part of our guide to employment compliance in Peru.

Legal framework

The internal work rules are governed by Decreto Supremo 039-91-TR. The key rules are:

• Who must have them. Employers with more than 100 workers.
• Minimum content. Admission and hiring; working hours, schedules and meal breaks; attendance control; permissions, leave and absences; method of payment; disciplinary rules and sanctions; the person or persons to whom complaints are submitted; safety and hygiene rules; measures to prevent sexual harassment and HIV/AIDS-related discrimination; among other topics.
• Approval. The rules are submitted to the labor administrative authority (Autoridad Administrativa de Trabajo, the regional labor office of the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion, MTPE) and are approved automatically upon filing.
• Delivery. The employer must deliver the rules to workers within five calendar days after approval.

Failure to have internal work rules when they are mandatory is classified as a minor infringement under the inspection regulations. The fine itself may be modest, but the practical consequences reach well beyond it, as discussed below.

The current filing channel is administered by the MTPE. Because procedures and formats are updated periodically, confirm the current filing route and any requirements before submitting.

Handbook vs. internal work rules: a different job

A global handbook communicates culture and expectations. It is written to be read, updated centrally and applied across countries. The Peruvian internal work rules have a narrower and more legal function: they set the rules of the employment relationship at the local level in a form that is filed and delivered, and they give the employer a documented basis for the organization of work and for discipline.

The two documents can and should coexist. The mistake is to let them overlap uncontrollably.

How to localize without duplicating

The approach that works best keeps the internal work rules focused on what Peruvian law requires and uses cross-references for everything else.

1. Map the mandatory topics. List every topic required by D.S. 039-91-TR and identify where, if anywhere, the group handbook already addresses it.
2. Draft local content where the law is specific. Working hours, meal breaks, attendance control, leave, pay method and discipline need local detail because Peruvian rules govern them. A group statement such as “employees are expected to work the hours their role requires” does not work in a jurisdiction with statutory maximum working hours and a mandatory attendance register.
3. Reference group policy for conduct standards. Conflicts of interest, gifts, confidentiality and anti-bribery can be incorporated by reference, stating that breach of those policies may constitute a disciplinary offense under the rules.
4. Integrate the harassment framework. The rules must include harassment-prevention measures. They should point to the local harassment policy and procedure, not to the global hotline alone. See our article on sexual harassment prevention duties in Peru.
5. Set a precedence clause. State that where group policy and the internal work rules differ, the rules apply in Peru, and that neither can reduce statutory or collectively agreed rights.
6. File, deliver and record. File with the labor authority, deliver within five calendar days and keep evidence of delivery for each worker, including new hires.

Discipline: where the rules matter most

The disciplinary chapter is where internal work rules earn their value. Peruvian law already defines serious misconduct (falta grave) that can justify dismissal, and it prescribes a pre-dismissal procedure. What the internal work rules add is predictability for lesser measures: which conduct leads to a warning, which to a suspension, and how proportionality is assessed.

A well-drafted disciplinary chapter should describe offenses in terms employees can understand, set out the range of sanctions and state the procedural steps the company follows before imposing them. It should not attempt to create new grounds for dismissal outside the law, and it should not promise a rigid tariff that removes the employer’s ability to weigh circumstances. Our articles on disciplinary measures in Peru and dismissal for serious misconduct explain how those rules interact with the internal work rules.

Checklist for regional teams

• Monitor headcount monthly and flag when the entity approaches more than 100 workers.
• Map the prescribed topics against the group handbook and identify gaps.
• Draft local chapters for working time, attendance, leave, pay and discipline.
• Include harassment-prevention and safety content that refers to the local instruments.
• Add a precedence clause and cross-references to group policy.
• File with the labor authority through the current MTPE channel.
• Deliver to all workers within five calendar days of approval and keep acknowledgments.
• Deliver the rules to every new hire at onboarding.
• Review the rules when schedules, sites or group policies change, and treat amendments with the same filing and delivery discipline as a preventive criterion.

Common mistakes

Filing the handbook as if it were the rules. Filing a document that lacks mandatory topics does not cure the omission, even if the filing is formally accepted.

Stale rules. Rules filed years ago that describe schedules, sites or sanctions no longer in use can undermine the company’s position, because workers and inspectors will rely on the filed text.

No proof of delivery. Delivery is a separate obligation. Without evidence, the company cannot show that workers knew the rules.

Conflicting versions. When the handbook, the rules and site-level instructions all say something different, the most worker-favorable reading tends to prevail.

Consequences

Not having internal work rules when required exposes the employer to an inspection finding classified as a minor infringement, with a fine graduated by company size and number of workers affected. The larger cost is indirect: weaker disciplinary decisions, disputes over working hours and attendance control, and findings that compound other gaps. The rules are also among the documents SUNAFIL can request during an inspection, so their absence is quickly visible.

Preventive recommendations

Prepare the rules before the threshold is crossed when growth is planned. Keep them short, local and precise, and let the group handbook carry culture and conduct standards. Assign a local owner for updates and include the rules in the entity’s obligation matrix, as described in building an employment compliance program. Review them alongside any change to working schedules, disciplinary practice or harassment procedures.

Bottom line

Internal work rules are a formal Peruvian requirement above 100 workers and a practical tool below it. Done well, they give the local entity a clear legal basis for organizing work and applying discipline, while leaving the group handbook intact. Our internal work rules service drafts and aligns them with the group framework, so the two documents support each other instead of competing.