Thai Labour Law on Employment Termination

â€Å"If the parties have not fixed the duration of the contract either party can terminate it by giving notice at or before any time of payment to take effect at the following time of payment. But no more than three-month notice need be given. ?†The employer can, on giving such notice, immediately dispense with the services of the employee by paying him his remuneration up to the expiration of the notice† Section 17, paragraph two – of the Labour Protection Act: Where the employment contract is of no specific duration, the employer or the employee may terminate the employment contract by giving an advance notice in writing to the other party on or before the date fixed for a payment of wages so that the termination of the employment contract takes effect on the date fixed for the next succeeding payment of wages, provided that the advance notice need not be of a period exceeding three months. Compensation for Termination of Employment: Upon terminating an employe e, the employer is required to pay compensation to the employee whose amount depends on the length of the employee's service towards the employer. Periods of employmentAmounts of severance payment An employee who has consecutively completed 120 days, but less than one (1) year, of work:a payment of not less than 30 days of his or her last wages, or, in the case of an employee who works on a piecemeal basis, not less than the wages of his or her last 30 days of work. Before the termination of an employment is to take effect, the employer needs to notify his employee in writing on or prior to a wage payment date so that the termination takes effect on the succeeding wage payment date. However, the period of an advance notice need not be more than three (3) months. Unfair Termination 5. 1 Section 49 – Act on the Establishment of the Labour Court and Labour Procedure, B. E. 2522 (A. D. 1979) Besides the payment of severance pay, an employer may be ordered by the labour court, upon the employee's request to t pursuant to Section 49, either to reinstate the dismissed employee or to pay damages to him or her if it is found that the dismissal is unfair Section 49 provides: â€Å"In the trial of a case of dismissal of an employee by an employer, if the labour court is of the opinion that such a dismissal is not fair to the employee, the labour court may order the employer to accept the said employee to work at the rate of wage payable at the time of dismissal. If the labour court is of the opinion that the employer and the employee cannot work together any longer, the labour court shall fix the amount of damages as compensation to be paid by the employer by taking into consideration the age of the employee, the length of employment of the employee, the hardship of the employee at the time of dismissal, cause of the dismissal and the compensation to which the employee is entitled. † Thai Supreme Court Judgment No. 574/2526 An employee had committed 11 counts of wrongdoings some of which warranted a dismissal by the employer and denied the wrongdoer necessary protection under the labour law. The employer did not dismiss the employee in question by reason of the wrongdoing, but elected to impose a lighter disciplinary action against him. Subsequently, the employer decided to dismiss the employee after he failed to report to work for one day. Apparently, the dismissal was also made in reliance on the employee's previous wrongdoings. The court held the dismissal as an unfair termination of employment because the employer was believed to have no intention in penalising (i. e. dismissing) the employee at the times the past wrongdoings occurred. Therefore, the employer could no longer rely on the past wrongdoings to dismiss the employee again. Summary of What Constitutes an Unfair Termination. In addition, on the basis of court judgments, an unfair termination of employment may be summarised to include (i) a dismissal without cause, or with cause but such cause is unreasonable, or (ii) it is not to such an extent as to warrant a dismissal, or (iii) it lies outside a company's work rules or an employment contract, or (iv) a dismissal in which an alleged offence of an employee cannot be proved or in which an employee has committed no offence, or (v) a dismissal which is intended to harass or persecute an employee.