TeakDoor.com - The Thailand Forum - View Single Post - Thailand's Labour Protection Act 1998 (English Language version)

William · 09-02-2006, 02:46 PM

Part 6

Quote:

Chapter 9 - Supervision

Section 108. A boss who has a total of ten or more employees shall arrange for work rules and regulations in the Thai language and those rules and regulations must at least have details relating to the following items:

(1)Days of work, normal hours of work and rest hours.
(2)Holidays and criteria for holidays.
(3)Criteria for overtime work and holiday work.
(4)Days and places of payment of wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay.
(5)Leave days and criteria for taking leave.
(6)Discipline and disciplinary punishment.
(7)Complaints.
(8)Termination of employment, compensation payments and special compensation payments.

A boss shall announce the application of the work rules and regulations within fifteen days from the day on which the boss has a total of ten or more employees, and the boss shall keep a copy of those rules and regulations at the boss' place of business operations or office at all times, and a copy of the rules and regulations shall be sent to the Director-General or a person assigned by the Director-General within seven days from the day of notification of application of the said rules and regulations.
The Director-General or a person assigned by the Director-General shall have the authority to order a boss to correctly amend work rules and regulations that are contrary to the law within a prescribed period,

A boss shall disseminate and post the notification of the work rules and regulations
in a place open to the employees at their places of work, for the information of the employees and so that they can see them conveniently.
Section 109. Complaints under Section 108 (7) must contain at least the following details:

(1)The scope and meaning of complaints.
(2)The procedures and steps for complaints.
(3)Inquiries and consideration of complaints.
(4)Process for ending complaints.
(5)Protection of complainants and persons concerned.

Section 110. When work rules and regulations are amended, the boss shall announce the amended rules and regulations within seven days from the date of notification of application of the amended rules and regulations, and paragraphs two, three and four shall be applied, mutatis mutandis.

Section 111. After a boss has announced the application of work rules and regulations in accordance with Section 108, even if later on the boss has less than ten employees, the boss shall continue to have the duty to comply with Sections 108 and 110.

Section 112. A boss who has ten or more employees shall prepare an employee register in the Thai language and keep it at the boss' place of business operations or office, ready for inspection by the Labour Inspection Officer during hours of work.
The boss shall prepare the employee register under paragraph one within fifteen days from the date on which the employee starts work.

Section 113. An employee register must have at least the following particulars:

(1)Name and surname.
(2)Sex.
(3)Nationality.
(4)Date of birth or age.
(5)Current address.
(6)Date of commencement of employment.
(7)Position or job duties.
(8)Wage rate and other fringe benefits which the boss has agreed to give to the employee.
(9)Date of expiry of employment.

When it is necessary to change the particulars in the employee register, the boss shall complete the amendment of the employee register within fifteen days from the date on which that change took place or within fifteen days from the date on which the employee reported the change to the boss for information.

Section 114. A boss who has a total of ten or more employees shall ensure that there is documentation on the payment of wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay, including at least the following particulars:

(1)The working days and hours of work.
(2)The work results of the employees who receive wages for piece work.
(3)The rates and the amounts of the wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay received by each employee.

When wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay are paid to an employee, the boss shall arrange for the employee to sign the documentation under paragraph one as evidence thereof.
The particulars in the documentation under paragraph one may be in the same document or separated into several documents.

When a boss pays wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay to an employee by means of transferring the money into a deposit account in a commercial bank or some other financial institution, it shall be held that the documentary evidence of the transfer of the money into the employee's deposit account is documentation connected with the payment of the said money.

Section 115. A boss shall keep employee registers for not less than two years from the date of expiry of employment of each employee and the boss shall keep the documentation on the payment of wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay to an employee for not less than two years from the date of payment of the said money.

When a petition has been submitted under Chapter 12 of this Act or there is a labour dispute under the law on labour relations or a labour case has been filed in court, the boss shall keep the employee registers and the documentation on the payment of wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay until there is a final order or judgement regarding the said matter.

Chapter 10 - Suspension from Work
Section 116. When a boss conducts an inquiry regarding an employee who has been accused of committing an offence, the boss is not allowed to order the employee to be suspended from work during the said inquiry unless the work rules and regulations or points of agreement on the terms of employment empower the boss to suspend the employee from work. In this regard, the boss must issue a written suspension order stating the offence and a period of suspension of not more than seven days, such that the employee must be informed in advance before being suspended from work.

During the suspension under paragraph one, the boss shall pay money to the employee at the rate which is prescribed in the rules and regulations or as agreed on between the boss and the employee in the points of agreement on the terms of employment. In this regard, the said rate must not be less than fifty percent of the working day's wage which the employee had received before being suspended from work.

Section 117. Upon completion of the inquiry, if it transpires that the employee is not guilty, the boss shall pay wages to the employee in an amount equal to his working days' wages calculated from when the employee was suspended from work, except that the money which had been paid by the boss under Section 116 shall be counted as part of the wages under this Section, together with interest at fifteen percent per annum.

Chapter 11 - Compensation Payments
Section 118. A boss shall pay compensation to an employee whose employment has been terminated as follows:

(l)An employee who has worked consecutively for a full one hundred and twenty days but less than one full year shall be paid not less than thirty days the last wage rate or not less than the wages for the last thirty days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on a piece work basis.
(2)An employee who has worked consecutively for one full year but not a full three years shall be paid at least an amount equivalent to ninety days' pay at his or her most recent wage rate or not less than the wages earned for the last ninety days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on te basis of piece work.
(3)An employee who has worked consecutively for a full three years but not a full six years shall be paid an amount at least equivalent to one hundred and eighty days' pay at his or her most recent wage rate, or not less than the wages earned for the last one hundred and eighty days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.
(4)An employee who has worked consecutively for a full six years but not a full ten years shall be paid an amount equivalent to at least two hundred and forty days' pay at his or her most recent wage rate or not less than the wages earned for the last two hundred and forty days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.
(5)An employee who has worked consecutively for a ten full years or more shall be paid an amount equivalent to at least three hundred days at his or her most recent wage rate, or not less than the wages for the last three hundred days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.

Termination of employment under this Section means any action by which the boss does not allow the employee to continue to do work and does not pay wages to the employee, regardless of whether the cause is the cessation of the employment agreement or another cause, and the meaning also covers cases where an employee does not do work and is not paid wages because the boss is unable to continue business operations.

The provisions in paragraph one shall not apply to employees who have a fixed term of employment and whose employment is terminated in accordance at the end of the specified term.

Fixed term employment under paragraph three may be effected in respect of employment for work in specific projects which are not the normal work of the boss's business or trade, and which must have a definite beginning and end of employment, or for seasonal work for which employment is effected during the period of such seasons, to the extent that the work must be completed within a period of not more than two years, and that the boss and the employee had made a written agreement as such upon commencement of employment.

Section 119. A boss need not pay compensation to an employee whose employment is terminated in any of the following cases:

(1)Dishonesty in carrying out duties or deliberate commission of a crime against the boss.
(2)Intentionally causing the boss to suffer damage.
(3)Negligence, causing the boss to suffer serious damage.
(4)Violation of the work rules and regulations or the boss' lawful and legitimate regulations or orders, where the boss had already issued a written warning, except that in serious cases the boss need not issue such a warning. A letter of warning shall be enforceable for not more than one year calculated from the date on which the employee committed the offence.
(5)Abandonment of post for three consecutive working days, regardless of whether there was a holiday in between or not, for no appropriate reason.
(6) Imprisonment under a final judgement ordering imprisonment, unless the sentence was for an offence which was committed out of negligence or a petty offence.

Section 120. When a boss moves his place of business operations and locates it in another place, and this has an important effect on the normal way of life of the employee or his family, the boss must inform the employee not less than thirty days before the date of relocation of the place of business operations. In this regard, if the employee does not wish to go and work there, the employee shall have the right to give notice of termination of the employment agreement, and the employee shall be entitled to receive a special compensation payment of not less than fifty percent of the rate of compensation payment which the employee is entitled to receive under Section 118.

When the boss does not inform the employee of the relocation of the place of business operations in advance in accordance with paragraph one, the boss shall pay a special compensation payment in lieu of notice in an amount equal to thirty days' pay at the employee's most recent wage rate or equal to the wages for the last thirty days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.

An employee is entitled to submit a petition to the Labour Welfare Committee for consideration within thirty days from the date on which the boss relocated his place of business operations as to whether or not it is a case where the boss must give advance notice or whether the employee is entitled to give notice of termination of the employment agreement with the right to receive the special compensation payment under paragraph one.

The ruling of the Labour Welfare Committee shall be final unless the boss or the employee appeals to the court against the ruling within thirty days from the date upon which the boss or the employee is informed of the ruling. When the boss is the party who takes the case to court, before the lawsuit can be filed the boss must pay an amount of money into court equivalent to the amount which must be paid to the employee who submitted the petition in accordance with paragraph three.

With regard to the giving of notice of termination of the employment agreement under this Section, the employee must exercise his or her right within thirty days from the date on which the boss relocated the place of business operations or from the date on which the ruling of the Labour Welfare Committee or the court judgement became final.

Section 121. When a boss wishes to terminate the employment of an employee because the boss is restructuring the work units, production, distribution or service processes, as a result of mechanization or changes in machinery or technology, thus making it necessary to reduce the number of employees, paragraph two of Section 17 shall not apply, and the boss shall inform the Labour Inspection Officer and the employees whose employment is to be terminated of the date of termination of employment, the reasons for termination of employment and the names of the employees not less than sixty days before the date of termination of employment.

When the boss does not inform in advance the employee whose employment is to be terminated or gives advance notice amounting to less than the time period prescribed in paragraph one, in addition to making the compensation payment under Section 118, the boss shall pay the employee a special compensation payment in lieu of notice in an amount equal to sixty working days' wages at his or her most recent wage rate, or an amount equivalent to his or her wages for the last sixty days of work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.

When a special compensation payment is paid in lieu of notice under paragraph two, it shall be held that the boss has paid the employment monies in lieu of notice in accordance with the Civil and Commercial Code.
Section 122. When a boss terminates the employment of an employee in accordance with Section 121 and that employee has worked continuously for six years or more, the boss shall pay the employee a special compensation payment equivalent to not less than fifteen working days' wages at his or her most recent wage rate for each full year of service in addition to the compensation payment under Section 118, or not less than an amount equivalent to the wages earned for the last fifteen days of work for each full year of service in respect an employee paid wags on the basis of piece work. However, the total compensation under this Section must not be more than three hundred and sixty working days' wages at the employee's most recent wage rate, or the wages received for the last three hundred and sixty days' work in respect of an employee who is paid a wage on the basis of piece work.

For the purpose of calculating special compensation payments, when the period of service is less than one full year, if the fraction of the period of service is more than one hundred and eighty days, it shall be counted as one full year of service.

Chapter 12 - Submission of Petitions and Consideration of Petitions
Section 123. When a boss violates or is not in compliance with the requirement to pay any form of compensation under this Act and the employee who claims to have a right to such compensation wishes to ask the Labour Inspection Officer to proceed in accordance with this Act, the employee shall have the right to submit a petition to the Labour Inspection Officer of the locality in which the employee is working or in which the boss is domiciled in the form prescribed by the Director-General.
Upon the death of an employee who is entitled to receive compensation under this Act , his or her legitimate heirs shall have the right to submit a petition to the Labour Inspection Officer in this regard.

Section 124. When a petition is submitted under Section 123, the Labour Inspection Officer shall conduct an inquiry into the facts and issue an order within sixty days from the date of receipt of the petition.
When it is not possible to issue an order within the deadline under paragraph one, the Labour Inspection Officer shall ask the Director-General or a person assigned by the Director-General for an extension of time together with the reason therefor, and the Director-General or the person assigned by the Director-General may consider granting permission as is deemed appropriate. However, the time period must not be more than thirty days from expiry of the time limit under paragraph one.

After the Labour Inspection Officer has conducted the inquiry, if the employee is entitled to receive any compensation which the boss is required to pay under this Act, the Labour Inspection Officer shall issue an order requiring the boss to pay the said compensation to the employee or the legitimate heirs of the employee in the form prescribed by the Director-General within fifteen days from the date when the employer is notified about the order.

The boss shall pay at the workplace the compensation under paragraph three to the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee. When so requested by the employee or the legitimate heirs of the employee, the Labour Inspection Officer shall have authority to order the boss to pay the said compensation at the office of the Labour Inspection Officer or at another place as agreed upon between the boss and the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee.

When the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee has not received the said compensation within fifteen days from the day on which the Labour Inspection Officer issued the order, the Labour Inspection Officer shall remit such money for maintenance in the Employees Assistance Fund by depositing it in a bank. In this regard, the employee or his or her legitimate heirs entitled to received the above compensation shall have the right to any interest or benefit earned as the result of the deposit of such money in a bank.

When the Labour Inspection Officer is of the opinion that the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee is not entitled to receive the money under Section 123, the Labour Inspection Officer shall issue an order and inform the boss and the employee or his or her legitimate heirs in writing accordingly.

Section 125. After the Labour Inspection Officer has issued the order under Section 124, if the boss, the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee are not satisfied with that order, the case may be brought to court within thirty days as calculated from the date of notification of the order.

When the boss, the employee or the legitimate heirs of a deceased employee do not bring the case to court within the above deadline, that order shall be final.

When the boss is the party which brings the case to court, the boss must pay the money into court in the amount which is due for payment under that order before the lawsuit can be filed.

When the case is concluded and it is held that the boss has the duty to pay any amount of money to the employee or his or her legitimate heirs, the court shall have the authority to pay to the employee or his or her legitimate heirs the money which the boss had paid into court.