THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Nam-Ake Lekfuangfu, Theeranit Pongpanarat and Panitan Pruksakasemsuk, Baker McKenzie (Bangkok)
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 Contractual payments may have to be paid upon ter - mination 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. 7.3 Dismissal for (Serious) Cause The employer can terminate an employee’s position without providing advance notice or severance pay when the employee has committed any of the follow - ing 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; effective date of termination. Any Contractual Payments • 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 holi - day 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 statu - tory 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. 7.4 Termination Agreements 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 agree - ments are helpful to mitigate the litigation risk associ - ated with the termination of employment, particularly the unfair termination claim (see 8.1 Wrongful Dis- missal ). The employer will often have to offer some extra pay - ments (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. 7.5 Protected Categories of Employee Employees are protected from dismissal in the follow - ing 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 mem - ber of a labour union or due to their participation in submitting a labour demand or negotiation for a CBA).
8. Disputes 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal
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 employ -
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