<![CDATA[Diploma retention by employers is a practice that may restrict workers' rights and raise legal issues concerning the exercise of governmental authority in the field of employment. This study aims to analyze the authority of the Industrial Relations and Social Security Division of the East Java Provincial Manpower and Transmigration Office in handling diploma retention cases based on the General Principles of Good Governance (AUPB) and to formulate an authority norm reconstruction to strengthen legal certainty and law enforcement effectiveness. This study employs an empirical legal research method using an AUPB-based approach. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews, observations of case-handling processes, and analysis of administrative documents relating to complaints and case resolution. The data were analyzed descriptively and qualitatively by evaluating the exercise of authority based on the principles of legal certainty, impartiality, proportionality, and the prohibition of abuse of authority. The findings demonstrate a gap between the legal prohibition of diploma retention and its implementation in practice. Of the 144 cases recorded during the research period, none were processed through criminal proceedings, while the cases were predominantly resolved through mediation. This practice raises concerns regarding the principle of legal certainty due to the inconsistency between the prescribed criminal sanctions and actual enforcement; the principle of impartiality because, in certain cases, mediators actively participated in formulating settlement schemes that linked the return of diplomas to payment obligations; and the principle of carefulness due to the absence of adequate standard operating procedures, objective case-disposition criteria, and monitoring mechanisms. This study proposes an authority norm reconstruction through objective criteria for case handling, a clear separation between mediation and sanction enforcement, procedural standardization, mandatory legal review, escalation mechanisms, worker protection, and strengthened transparency and accountability. The novelty of this study lies in formulating an AUPB-based model of governmental authority for handling diploma retention cases that integrates dispute resolution mechanisms with legal certainty and accountable law enforcement.Keywords: General Principles of Good Governance; government authority; mediation; diploma retention; norm reconstruction]]>
