Thailand redrafted their Labor Protection Act which established major changes to the country’s employment law. Maternity leaves were increased by eight days, from 90 days to 98 days, and the leave included prenatal and postnatal. During maternity leave, the employer must pay up to 45 days’ of wages.
Employees must give consent to transfer employees from one business entity to another. For example, if there was an organization change or a merger between companies, employees have a say in whether they want to transfer or not. If the employer does not have an employee’s consent, the transfer will not take place and the employee will be entitled to severance pay, only if the worker’s employment will be eventually terminated. The maximum cap on severance pay has been increased to 400 days of the employee’s latest wage rate for 20 years or more of continuous service—previously 300 days for more than 10 years of service (Tungsuwan, 2019).
An employee has the right to reject relocation if an employer is relocating to a new place of business. It would not matter if the office is in Thailand or exists in another country, it can not materially affect the quality of life of an employee. Subject to the employee satisfying legally prescribed conditions, his or her employment contract shall be deemed to be terminated on the date of relocation (Tungsuwan, 2019). Also, the employee will be entitled to a special severance pay but it will still pay at the same rate as severance pay.
Employers must pay interest to employees for failing to grant several different payments. The interest was originally 7.5 percent but then was increased to 15 percent with the new Labor Protection Act. The payments would include:
- Payment in lieu of advance notice
- Wages, overtime payments, payment for working on holidays and payments for working overtime on holidays.
- Compensation during temporary cessation of the employer’s operations.
- Severance pay and special severance pay.
