Protecting Your Employment Rights in Thailand
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Employment Law
Know Your Rights
There are two main bodies of law in Thailand that govern employment: (1) the Civil and Commercial Code, and (2) the Labor Protection Act (collectively the Employment Laws). These laws apply equally to both Thai nationals and expatriates, Thai and Foreign-owned enterprises.
There is no discrimination under the Employment Laws between Thais and Foreigners.
We have set out below a summary of the rights and protections of employees in Thailand under Thailand’s employment law.
This is not exhaustive but covers the core areas. All financial figures are the current figures and are subject to review.
Holiday
Employees are entitled to the holidays as detailed below:
The employees who have worked continuously for one full year are entitled to an annual holiday of no lesser than six working days.The employees who have worked for lesser than one year are entitled an annual holiday on a pro-rataIn addition to the above, the employees are entitled to no lesser than 13 days of traditional holiday each year (inclusive of the National Labor Day). The traditional holidays are to be in accordance with the public’s annual holiday, religious holiday, or local customary holiday.
Working hours
Employees’ working hours shall not exceed eight hours per day. If the working period in any one day is less than eight hours, the remaining hours can be added to the other normal working days upon mutual agreement between the employer and employee. However, such working hours shall not exceed nine hours per day and 48 hours per week.
Rest periods
Employees are entitled to at least one hour rest period after working for five hours consecutively. The rest period can be agreed otherwise between the employer and employee, however, the total rest period per day shall not be less than one hour.
Pension rights
Maternity leave/pay
Pregnant female employees are entitled to no more than 98 days maternity leave.
Pregnant female employees are entitled to their normal earnings for the period of 45 days from their employer and pay for the other 45 days from the Social Security Fund.
Statutory sick pay
Employees are entitled to sick pay equal to their wage for a normal working day for the entire period of time taken as sick leave, but not exceeding 30 working days per year.
Statutory notice periods
Where period of employment is not specified in the employment contract, if the employer wishes to terminate the employment contract, a written advance notice must be given to the employees on or before the due date of wage payment and such termination shall take effect on the following due date of the wage payment.
If the employer wishes to immediately terminate the employment contract, the employer shall render a payment in lieu of advance notice to the employees in the amount to be paid up until following due date of the wage payment
Unfair dismissal
Unfair dismissal of employees are as follows:
Immediate dismissal without cause and without severance pay;Termination of the employment contract without payment of unused annual leave;Termination of the employment contract due to violation of work regulations by the employees without prior warning; orTermination of employment contract under the ground prohibited byAccordingly, in case of unfair dismissal, if the court see that the dismissal of employees is unfair, the court may order the employer to reinstate the employee or order the employer to compensate the employee as the court see fits.
Statutory redundancy payment
A statutory redundancy payment or known as severance pay in Thailand must be provided to the employees if the employer dismisses the employees without cause. The details of severance pay are summarized as follows:
Length of service Severance pay rate 120 days but less than one year 30 days One year but less than three years 90 days Three years but less than six years 180 days Six years but less than 10 years 240 days 10 years or more 300 days More than 20 years 400 days
