There is no legal distinction between blue-collar and white-collar workers under Thai labour laws; both receive the same treatment and protection under the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541 (1998) (LPA).

However, there are requirements relating to outsourced employees under the LPA, where a business operator could legally be deemed an employer of such outsourced workers if they require another person to dispatch such workers to perform any work within their manufacturing process or business operation under their responsibility.

Employees may be hired indefinitely or for a fixed-term period, and there is no legal requirement for the contract for either to be in writing.

The main differences between these two types of contracts are as follows.

Indefinite-Term Employment Contract

For this type of contract, an employer or an employee may terminate the agreement at any time by giving advance notice to the other party of at least one pay period as legally required, or a longer period if the parties agree otherwise. If the employer fails to provide notice in advance as legally required, they must make payment in lieu of the shortfall of the notice period required.

Such employment contracts may simply specify the term to be indefinite, subject to termination by either party through providing notice in advance, and in reliance on grounds for termination.

Fixed-Term Employment Contract

Conversely, a fixed-term employment contract automatically terminates upon the agreed expiry without requiring advance notice.

This type of contract must specify the exact date or time period when the employment term will end. They should not include clauses for renewal or early termination, as Thai labour courts interpret such provisions as changing the nature of the contract from a fixed term to an indefinite one.

The employer is legally required to specify the start and end times of work in a day. Working hours must not generally exceed eight hours per day and 48 hours per week, except for certain hazardous works prescribed under the laws, where the maximum working hours are capped at seven hours per day and 42 hours per week.

There is a legal exception if the employer cannot specify the start and end time of work due to the nature or conditions of the work; such work can be exempt from the exact start and end times for working hours, as long as they do not exceed eight hours per day and 48 hours per week.

The LPA does not provide a definition or distinction for part-time or full-time contracts. All employees are treated similarly under Thai labour laws, regardless of their status as part-time or full-time employees.

Overtime work is legally defined as working beyond the normal working hours. In general, the employee's prior consent is required each time they are required to work overtime unless it is an emergency case, or unless the work is continuous and the stoppage will cause damage to that work. In any case, the total overtime working hours and holiday work shall not exceed 36 hours per week.

The employee is entitled to overtime pay at 1.5 times the normal hourly wage for any overtime worked. For working overtime on a holiday, the rate is three times the normal overtime rate.

Under Thai labour law, the employer must pay at least the minimum daily wage rate announced by the Wage Committee from time to time, regardless of the number of hours worked in each day. The Wage Committee consists of representatives from the government, employers and employees, and generally announces the minimum wage for each province or a group of provinces.

13th-month payment and bonuses are not statutory payments under the LPA, and it is up to the employer to prescribe terms and conditions as it wishes or as agreed with the employees as part of their employment terms and conditions.

Statutory Holidays

Under the LPA, there are three types of holidays.

• Weekly holiday: the employer must provide at least one weekly holiday per week. The interval between weekly holidays shall not be more than six days, and the employer and the employee may agree in advance to fix any day as a weekly holiday.
• Traditional holiday: the employer must provide at least 13 traditional holidays per year, including National Labour Day, which the employer must announce in advance. The employer must fix the traditional holidays according to the official annual holidays and religious or local holidays.
• Annual holidays: the employer must provide annual holidays of not less than six working days per year for any employee who has worked for an uninterrupted period of one year. The annual holidays can be fixed in advance or as agreed by the employer and employee.

The employer and the employee may agree in advance to accumulate and postpone any annual holiday that has not yet been taken in a year to be included in the following year.

If an employee has not completed one year of service, the employer may set annual holidays for the employee on a pro rata basis.

During these holidays, the employee shall receive wages equivalent to a working day’s wages. If the employee is required to work on these holidays, the employer must provide holiday pay or overtime work, if any.

Statutory Leaves

There are six statutory leaves under the LPA.

• Sick leave: An employee is entitled to take sick leave as long as they are truly injured or ill. The employer will pay wages throughout leave, but for no more than 30 working days a year.
• Maternity leave: a female employee is entitled to take maternity leave of not more than 98 days for each pregnancy, inclusive of holidays during the period of leave. Pre-natal care is considered part of this leave. The employer will pay wages throughout leave, but for no more than 45 days for a pregnancy.
• Sterilisation leave: an employee is entitled to take leave for sterilisation and leave as a result of sterilisation for a determined period, and with a certificate issued by a first-class physician, with wage pay.
• Business leave: an employee is entitled to take leave for necessary business of not less than three working days per year, with wage pay.
• Military service leave: an employee is entitled to take leave for military service for inspection, military drilling or readiness testing under the law concerning military service. The employer must pay wages throughout leave, but for no more than 60 days a year.
• Leave for training: an employee shall be entitled to take leave for training or the development of their knowledge and skills in accordance with the rules and procedures prescribed in the Ministerial Regulations. As the law is silent on payment during this leave, it is up to the employer to allow the employee to take this leave with or without pay.

There are no statutory leaves for disability or childcare.

Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Requirements

Thai labour law is silent on the obligations of confidentiality or non-disparagement. It is generally permissible for the employer and employee to agree on these obligations, including for the period after the cessation of employment.

The enforcement of these confidentiality clauses, in practice, could be somewhat challenging. One of the challenges is that it will be difficult for some employers to have sufficient evidence and witnesses to prove the employee’s breach of confidentiality and to establish the extent of damages they suffer to claim compensation due to the breach and the causal link between such damages and the breach.

Nonetheless, depending on the nature of the information and infringement by the employees involved, the employer may also rely on the protections and enforcements under the Trade Secrets Act B.E. 2545 (2002), the Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550 (2007) and the Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994), as well as criminal offences under the Penal Code (eg, offences relating to commerce and defamation).

Similar to the confidentiality and non-disparagement requirements, restrictive covenants like non-compete clauses are generally valid and enforceable under Thai labour laws.

The Thai labour court has the authority to review whether the restraints placed on employees are fair, including any restrictions that apply after employment has ended. If the court finds these restraints to be unfair (such as if the geographical area covered is excessively broad or if the duration after employment termination is too long), it can choose to modify them. The court may enforce these restraints only to the extent it considers fair and reasonable for the employees, such as by reducing the post-termination period to what it deems appropriate.

Enforcement of Non-Compete Clauses

As these restrictions set bounds on an employee’s rights and freedoms, the court is likely to interpret the scope of the application of these restrictions in a limited manner. Therefore, it is crucial for the employer to carefully draft the relevant contractual provisions to ensure that the scope of their application will cover the protections intended by these clauses, while ensuring that the scopes and restrictions are not too overtly restrictive, unfair and burdensome to the employee.

In practice, the enforcement of specific performance of the non-compete clause can be challenging, and the court rarely grants any enforcement on specific performance (eg, by ordering the employee to leave the competitor) or injunctive relief. However, the court is more likely to award damages due to the employee’s breach of these restrictive covenants if the employer can prove the existence of damages as well as the causal link between the breach and the damages it suffered.

Non-solicitation clauses are treated similarly to non-compete clauses; see 2.1 Non-competes. The court is empowered to review whether these restraints are fair to employees. If the court thinks they are unfair to employees, it may exercise its discretion to render them enforceable to the extent it considers fair and reasonable to the employees.

The purposes of the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) (PDPA) are to protect individuals’ personal data by imposing obligations on any data controller or processor collecting, disclosing, transferring and utilising personal data of a data owner.

The key legal requirements under the PDPA in the employment context include the following.

• Employers must limit the collection of personal data to lawful grounds and with the employee’s prior consent, unless it falls under prescribed exceptions.
• A request for consent shall be explicitly made in a written statement or via electronic means, which must be separated from other content and must be easy to understand.
• There are exceptions where consent from employees is not required for the processing of their data (collecting, disclosing and utilising personal data), such as when the employer may rely on its necessity due to its legitimate interest or contractual obligations to process such personal data in compliance with the PDPA, among others.
• An employer shall collect, utilise or disclose personal data only for the purpose notified to the employee prior to or at the time of such collection, unless the employer has informed the employee of the new purposes and has received the employee’s consent to collect, use or disclose personal data for such purposes.
• A privacy notice must be given to the employees before or at the time the employer collects their personal data. The privacy notice must contain the information required under the PDPA – the purpose of data processing, the categories of data to be processed, the retention period, the contact person for PDPA matters, the rights of the employee as the data owner, etc.

If an employer wishes to hire a foreign employee, a valid business visa and work permit must be obtained so that the foreign employee is able to stay and work in Thailand. Generally, a foreign employee will have to obtain an appropriate business visa from the Thai Embassy/Consulate of their home country, which permits them to stay in Thailand for work or business activities for 90 days. The foreign employee will then have to apply for and obtain a work permit from the competent authority in Thailand in order to be able to work in Thailand legally.

After obtaining the work permit, the foreign employee may apply to the competent immigration bureau for an extension of the permit to stay in Thailand for a period exceeding the initial 90 days permitted under the business visa above (eg, one year).

An employer that hires a foreign employee must notify a work permit official of their name, nationality and work description within 15 days from the date of hiring. When a foreign employee’s employment ends, the employer must also notify a work permit official, including the reason for employment cessation, within 15 days from the employment cessation date.

Foreign employees must also be registered with the Social Security Fund, similar to Thai employees. They will also have to obtain a Tax ID from the Thai Revenue Department.

In 2022, an amendment to the LPA was approved to facilitate the new way of working remotely. Under the newly amended LPA, an employer may agree to allow an employee to work from home or to work from anywhere, using information technology, for the benefit of the business and the promotion of quality of life for employees, or in cases of necessity.

This sort of agreement must be made in writing or in the form of electronic data that is accessible and reusable without altering the meaning. The agreement may include the following details:

• commencement and end date;
• normal working hours, rest periods and overtime;
• rules on overtime work, holiday work and leave;
• the scope of the work and the control of work by the employer; and
• obligations to procure and provide work equipment and tools, including expenses arising out of the work.

The amendment to the LPA also introduced the “right to disconnect” for employees when working remotely – ie, the employee has the right to refuse any communications with their employer, supervisors, chief or work inspector after the end of normal working hours, unless employees give written consent in advance.

There are no specific legal requirements for remote working, so the requirements under the Thai PDPA will continue to apply to both employers and employees working remotely.

Occupational Safety, Health and Environment

There has not yet been any specific occupational safety, health and environment legislation nor regulations dealing specifically with mobile work or remote working in Thailand.

However, under the Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Act B.E. 2554 (2011), an employer has a general obligation to arrange and maintain the establishment and its employees in safe and hygienic working conditions, and to support and promote the work operation of employees in order to prevent them from harm to life, physique, mentality and health.

Moreover, an employee is entitled to receive compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act B.E. 2537 (1994) if the injury or death is due to work in the course of protecting the interest of the employer, or complying with the commands of the employer, among others, regardless of their place of work.

Social security

The employer is required to register any remote-working employee with the Social Security Fund and make contributions to the fund similar to those of other regular employees.

There are no statutory sabbatical leaves under the LPA; the most similar concept is the annual holiday requirement. As noted in 1.5 Other Employment Terms, the employer is required to provide at least six annual holidays per year to employees who have worked for an uninterrupted period of one year. The employer and the employee may agree in advance to accumulate and carry forward any unused annual holiday to the following years.

Some employers may allow employees to take extended breaks from work in the form of unpaid leave for a specific period, or they may offer paid sabbatical leave in addition to the annual holidays as part of their benefits package. If an employer provides such leaves, there are no restrictions, as these leaves are considered part of the non-statutory benefits. Consequently, the employer has the flexibility to set the requirements and duration of the leave as they see fit.

There are some interesting new developments on the nature of work in Thailand, including the following.

• Fully remote, hybrid or flexible work arrangements are becoming the norm for office workers in Thailand, as many employers allow employees to work remotely either fully or in a hybrid manner, where a certain number of days in a week will be remote and the rest will be attending the office to work as usual. Certain employers also consider desk sharing to accommodate the shrinking size of office space as more fully remote, hybrid or flexible work arrangements are being adopted.
• An increase in cross-border personnel engagement is due to the rapid adoption of information technology, allowing for more effective and efficient ways to work remotely. However, overseas employers should still consider legal issues in engaging personnel in Thailand from abroad, including:
1. appropriate and legally permissible forms of engagement;
2. work permit and visa requirements;
3. restrictions on foreign business activities in Thailand; and
4. tax issues in connection with such cross-border personnel engagement.
• Employers in various industries are seeking to utilise AI better. Work and employee regulations may have to be adopted to regulate the use of AI by employees to perform their work, particularly to address risks regarding intellectual property and confidentiality issues.
• Adoption of independent contractors is increasingly becoming more common. An independent contractor is an individual who operates independently or provides services to an organisation without being directly employed. This role can be described in various terms, such as consultant, freelancer, advisor, or independent contractor.

In this context, the relationship between an independent contractor and an organisation is governed by a contractor-hirer arrangement under a service or contractor agreement, rather than an employer-employee relationship under an employment agreement. The organisation is not obliged to provide most statutory employment protections and entitlements. However, regardless of the terms stated in the engagement or service agreement, there is a risk of misclassification. If a court determines that the actual working relationship resembles that of an employer and employee, the organisation may be subject to employment-related obligations.

A labour union is an organisation with a separate legal personality formed voluntarily by at least ten qualified employees, which must be registered with the registrar under the Labour Relations Act B.E. 2518 (1975) (LRA). It could be formed either by employees of the same employer (house union) or by employees within the same industry, regardless of the number of employers (industrial union).

Under the LRA, a labour union mainly has duties and powers to demand, negotiate and acknowledge an award or enter into a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with an employer or employer’s association regarding the activities of its members, and to manage and carry out activities for the benefit of its members within the objectives of the labour union, among others.

Labour Unions

Labour unions may be established by at least ten qualified employees under the same employer or within the same industry and registered with the registrar to become a juristic person under the LRA. As noted in 6.1 Unions, labour unions have the authority to demand, negotiate and acknowledge an award or enter into a CBA with an employer or employer’s association regarding the activities of its members, and to manage and carry out activities for the benefit of its members within the objectives of the labour union, among others.

Welfare Committee in the Establishment

In a workplace with 50 employees or more, the employer must arrange for the inception of a Welfare Committee in the Establishment, appointed by an election by employees in accordance with the LPA. The Welfare Committee in the Establishment shall have general duties on consultation with the employer to provide welfare to employees, among others.

An employer must hold a meeting with the Welfare Committee in the Establishment at least once every three months, or upon request by more than half of the total number of committee members or by the labour union with an appropriate reason.

Employee Committee

An employee committee may be established voluntarily by employees in a place of business that has 50 or more employees by election or appointment from the labour union, or both, depending on the proportion of the members of the labour unions in the workplace, in accordance with the LRA. Employers must arrange for a meeting with the employee’s committee at least once every three months, or upon request, to discuss welfare provisions or work regulations that would be beneficial to employers and employees, to consider complaints or to settle disputes in the workplace, among other purposes.

If there is an employee committee established under LRA, such a committee shall perform the same duties as the Welfare Committee in the Establishment.

Labour Federations

Two or more labour unions whose members are employees working for the same employer or in the same industry can jointly establish a labour federation to promote better relationships between labour unions and protect employees’ interests.

Under the LRA, a CBA is an agreement between employer and employee or between an employer’s association and a labour union relating to conditions of employment – ie, working days and hours, wages, welfare, termination of employment, or other benefits relating to employment.

A CBA under the LRA must be done through the processes under the LRA, by either the employer or employees (or through their labour union) submitting a labour demand to the other party and going through the negotiation process until an agreement is reached. The agreed CBA must also be registered with the registrar under the LRA.

A CBA shall be effective for a term as agreed between the employer and employee, but shall not exceed a period of three years. If no term is specified in a CBA, such CBA shall be effective for one year from the date such CBA is entered into. If the term of the CBA expires and there is no negotiation on such CBA, it shall be deemed to be applicable for one further year.

Under Thai labour law, an employer can terminate an employee’s position at any time and for any reason, provided that it complies with all legal requirements for such termination, including providing notice in advance, paying severance pay as required, etc.

However, the employer may also rely on the six statutory grounds under the LPA – eg, employment may be terminated if an employee commits a serious violation of the employer’s lawful and fair order and regulations, without having to provide a termination notice in advance or pay severance pay.

The employer should have a justifiable reason to terminate its employees’ contracts, in order to be able to defend itself against an unfair termination claim by a terminated employee (see 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal).

No special rules are applied in the general case of collective redundancy. However, in the case of redundancy due to the improvement of the organisational structure, manufacturing process, sales or service resulting from the use of new machinery or a change of machinery or technology, the employer is required to give advance notice with the details on the effective date of termination, the reason for termination and a list of names of affected employees to the labour inspector and the terminated employees no less than 60 days before the effective date of termination. Failure to provide advance notice or to provide notice within the accepted timeframe will lead to the employer being liable to pay special severance pay in lieu of advance notice equivalent to the last 60 days of wages, in addition to the severance pay.

If an employer terminates an employee’s position due to redundancy, and that employee has worked continuously for six years or more, the employer is required to provide a special severance payment in addition to the standard severance pay. This special payment will be equal to the employee’s last wage rate for 15 days for each full year of service beyond the initial six years. However, the total amount of this special severance pay cannot exceed the equivalent of the last wage rate for 360 days.

For a general case of employment termination not due to any statutory termination grounds, the employer must comply with the following.

Notice Period

According to the LPA, an employee or employer who wishes to terminate an indefinite-term agreement must give no less than one pay period advance notice of termination in writing to the other party – ie, the terminating party must provide the other party notice on or before any payday to take effect on the next payday. The notice period can be longer if agreed otherwise by the employer and employee.

Please note that this pay period is not necessarily one month or 30 days, and could be longer depending on the payday, when the termination notice is given, and the termination effective date.

An employer who fails to provide sufficient termination notice in advance is legally required to make payment in lieu of the shortfall notice period.

Severance Pay

Severance pay is required if the employer terminates an employee not due to any statutory grounds for termination, and the employee has worked for 120 days or more at the following rates:

• service of more than 120 days but less than one year: 30 working days’ wage is payable;
• service of one year or more but less than three years: 90 working days’ wage is payable;
• service of three years or more but less than six years: 180 working days’ wage is payable;
• service of six years or more but less than ten years: 240 working days’ wage is payable;
• service of ten years or more but less than 20 years: 300 working days’ wage is payable; and
• service of 20 years or more: 400 working days’ wage is payable.

Payment for Accrued but Unpaid Wages

Any outstanding wages must be paid within three days from the effective date of termination.

Payment instead of Unused Annual Holidays

The employer will be required to make payment in lieu of unused annual holidays (pro-rated for the year of termination, and carried forward from previous years, if any), which must be paid within three days from the effective date of termination.

Any Contractual Payments

Contractual payments may have to be paid upon termination as agreed between the employer and the employee (if any), in accordance with the terms and conditions of those payments.

No government authority permission is legally required for termination.

The employer can terminate an employee’s position without providing advance notice or severance pay when the employee has committed any of the following offences:

• been dishonest in the exercise of their duty or intentionally committed a criminal offence against the employer;
• intentionally caused damage to the employer;
• caused gross damage to the employer, through their negligence;
• violated any work regulations, rules or orders of the employer, which are lawful and fair (and for which the employer has previously given a warning in writing), and the employee repeats the violation within one year from the date of the violation (in a serious case, the employer is not required to give such warning);
• neglected duties for three consecutive regular working days, regardless of whether there is a holiday in between, without a reasonable excuse; or
• been sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a final judgment of the court – if such imprisonment is a result of an offence committed by negligence or a petty offence, it must have caused damages to the employer.

For the employer to be able to rely on these statutory termination grounds, a written termination notice with the details of the grounds for termination must be given to the employee at the time of the termination.

Termination agreements with employees (including the employee’s agreement to release and waive the right to claim against or sue the employer) are generally permissible, provided that the employee voluntarily enters into such an agreement. Termination agreements are helpful to mitigate the litigation risk associated with the termination of employment, particularly the unfair termination claim (see 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal).

The employer will often have to offer some extra payments (ex gratia payment) in addition to all termination payments that are already required to persuade the employee to sign the termination agreement. There is no legal requirement or guideline on the ex gratia payment, which is up to the parties to negotiate and agree.

Employees are protected from dismissal in the following circumstances:

• an employer is prohibited from terminating a female employee on the grounds of her pregnancy;
• under the LRA, an employer is prohibited from terminating an employee who is a member of an employee committee, unless permission is obtained from a labour court; and
• termination of an employee must not involve any unfair practices under the LRA (eg, termination of an employee due to the employee being a member of a labour union or due to their participation in submitting a labour demand or negotiation for a CBA).

There is a concept of “unfair termination” under Thai law, whereby a terminated employee may decide to bring a claim of unfair termination against the employer even if the employer has already paid them all statutory payments upon termination, and ask the court to order:

• reinstatement (rather rare); or
• separate unfair termination compensation.

Generally, the Supreme Court’s precedents require that the termination must be fair both substantively (eg, the ground for termination must be justifiable and reasonable) and procedurally (eg, the employee selection is fair, and the termination should be a last resort). If the court finds the termination unfair, it is likely to order the employer to make unfair termination compensation, which is in addition to the statutory termination payments. The court is free to determine the amount as it deems appropriate (eg, it may base the amount on the employee’s one month of wages for each year of their service, or on something else).

If the court determines that the employer has terminated the employee in bad faith (such as without valid reasons, or through bullying or retaliation), it may order a significant amount of unfair termination compensation as a punitive measure against the employer.

There is no specific legislation dealing with discrimination in the workplace, but various legislation prohibits discrimination, including the following:

The Constitution of Thailand

This prohibits discrimination on the basis of place of birth, nationality, language, gender, age, physical or health condition, economic or social status, religious belief, education or training, or political ideology.

The LPA

Under the LPA, an employer shall treat male and female employees equally in employment, unless the description or nature of the work prevents such treatment. Furthermore, an employer must fix wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay at the same rate for male and female employees who undertake work of the same nature and quality, and an equal quantity or work of equal value.

An employer who violates these provisions shall be subject to a maximum fine of THB20,000. The injured employee may claim damages from the employer on the grounds of a wrongful act under the Civil and Commercial Code.

Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 (2015)

Under the Gender Equality Act, any private organisation is prohibited from prescribing policies, ordinances, rules, notifications, measures, projects or practices that appear to discriminate unfairly based on gender. Unfair discrimination based on gender is defined under this law to cover the grounds that such a person is male or female or expresses themselves differently from their inborn gender, which is broader than the protection under the LPA.

Unfair discrimination based on gender could result in an order issued by the competent committee requiring a person to comply with appropriate measures to cease and prevent the recurrence of unfair discrimination based on gender and to pay compensation to the injured person. Moreover, the injured person may file a complaint to the court to claim compensation due to such discrimination, including punitive damages up to four times the actual damages.

There is also other legislation dealing with discrimination in some aspects regarding childcare and disability.

The electronic method of consulting and filing labour claims is now available through the website of the labour court. Online procedures for witness trials and proceedings for the labour court are also available, subject to the agreement by the parties in the case and the court’s approval.

There is a specialised labour court, which has jurisdiction over labour disputes, with specific procedures for labour cases. There is no court fee, and no lawyer is required to file a case with the labour court. The court will try to reconcile the parties so they can reach a mutual settlement first. The labour court’s ruling can be further appealed to the Court of Appeal for Specialised Cases with a special division for labour cases, but only on the legal issues in the case. Even though the ruling of the Court of Appeal can be further appealed to the Supreme Court, this rarely happens in practice since it would normally require the Supreme Court’s approval in the first place.

The court does not generally accept class actions for a labour case. However, the labour court can consider consolidating all other complaints that have the same facts and issues (eg, termination cases concerning many similar employees of the same employer) into one case to expedite the process.

An arbitration clause as the choice of forum under Thai law is possible and enforceable.

In matters related to labour law, such as wage payments, severance pay, and damages for unfair termination, the Thai labour court will maintain its jurisdiction over the case despite any arbitration clause. This is because the court views these issues as linked to public order. As a result, it is neither common nor recommended to attempt arbitration for labour disputes.

There is no court or official fee for filing a labour case with the court in the first place.