[alias]

In Bangkok school where my wife works, which is administered/owned by U.S. Church denomination, or jointly by U.S. & Thai administration, they came up with a regulation that every employee, who is married must maintain a home with their spouse, there in Bkk., or if their spouse is living outside Thailand, he/she must visit his/her spouse in Bkk. at least once in 6 months, or the spouse working in this school can be fired/lose job at this school...In my opinion this school admin. is overstepping their authority with this regulation, in more than one way..which are obvious-prying into employees private lives...But what I would like to know, before I go into researching all the Thai labor laws webs is, are foreign companies, institutions, operating in Thailand and employing Thai citizens bound by Thai labor laws, or can they enforce their own regulations on their employees?...ie. can they fire their Thai employees in contradiction to Thai labor laws?....Any Thai labor laws experts on this web, who know about this?

[Everwondopedo]

They have to abide by Thai laws - even more so if they have Thai employees. You must have good reason to fire someone and obviously this isn't a valid reason. How long has your wife being working there? If she has been there for a long time, they would have to compensate her with a financial package.

[alias]

Thank you mr. Barrow, for that good information...My wife has been working there for about 13-14 years there,...but she does not think it will come to that, that they would go any farther then they did, which is just giving her the note of the new regulation. But her immediate boss, told her it`s nothing to worry about. But I just wanted to inform my self and her about these laws, in case she gonna need to know about them...Thank you again.

[Everwondopedo]

As she has worked there for more than ten years then she is entitled to a severance pay worth 10 months.

Severance Pay: Employees who have worked more than 120 days, but less than one year, are entitled to 30 days severance pay. For personnel employed between one and three years, the severance pay is not less than 90 days pay. Employees with three to six years of service will receive six months salary, those with more than six to 10 years service will receive eight months salary, and employees with more than 10 years service will receive 10 months salary. Obviously, if you are sacked for stealing or because you are unable to do the job, then you are not entitled to the severance payout. Some employers might try and make up a legitimate excuse for firing you so that they don't have to pay this. However, they have to be careful as you can take them to Labor Court for unfair dismissal.

In August 1998, the Labor Protection Act (1998) went into effect. It applies to all businesses with at least one employee. Under the law, employers who disregard the law are subject to fines ranging from 5,000 baht to 200,000 baht and imprisonment of up to one year.

[RagonaCon]

Obviously, if you are sacked for stealing or because you are unable to do the job, then you are not entitled to the severance payout. .

Employer will need to issue warning letter before termination for this case and the warning letter issued must be less than a year.

Some employers might try and make up a legitimate excuse for firing you so that they don't have to pay this. However, they have to be careful as you can take them to Labor Court for unfair dismissal.

The best to do this will be asking the employee to tender the resignation themselves rather than to be terminated because being terminated will not look good on the resume. Most employer will start giving impossible tasks to the said employee and make things difficult for them and when they failed to deliver, they'll be asked to tender their resignation.

I have a friend who has a staff who was under-performing and recently started telling everyone in the office she doesn't care about getting fired (bad attitude) because she will be going to Vietnam with her boyfriend who will be working there. My friend had enough of her and wanted to fire her but she demanded 3 months severance pay. As she had worked in the company for only less than 1 year, she was only entitled for 1 month notice plus another 1 month's severance. Its funny how she happily accepted the termination and the severance pay on her last day since most people I know will rather tender their resignation themselves.

[NutChusty]

Thailand seems to have some tough labor laws, maybe for this reasons they prefer to employ people on a casual basis on full time hours, before offering full time employment.

[alias]

Thank you all Gentlemen and Lady, every new bit I read on this subject is helpful. My Nooch knew about these Thai labor laws, and when the school administration handed that notice to her, she told them that she is a Thai citizen, and they are living in Thailand, under Thai laws, and they can`t just fire her like that,...for a personal reason such as her personal marrital situation...when they heard that she is aware of these laws, they toned down, and backed off,...they are not mentioning that any more to her,...hope that silly regulation will be "shelved"...