Amendments to Thailand’s Labor Protection Act to Come in Force Early 2019

An amended Labour Protection Act (“LPA”) was published in the Royal Gazette on April 5, 2019, after having been endorsed by His Majesty the King. The LPA has become effective from May 5, 2019, onwards. Below are summaries of the main revisions to the current Labour Protection Act (“LPA”):

• Employers must grant 98 days of maternity leave to pregnant employees, including leave taken for prenatal examinations before the delivery date and holidays falling during the maternity leave period. During maternity leave, the employer has to pay up to 45 days ‘ pay.
• Employers must grant three days of ” necessary work leave ” to employees with wages paid.
• Here a change in employer results in any employees being transferred, those employees must consent to that transfer before it can take effect.

Employers are required to pay 15 percent interest on money that they owe to employees for:

• Wages, overtime payments, payment for working on holidays, and payments for working overtime on holidays; or
• Wages during a temporary cessation of the employer’s operations;

Employers must pay wages, overtime payments, payments for working on holidays, and payments for working overtime on holidays, at the same rate for both male and female employees who undertake work of the same type, quality, and quantity. Several penalties for employers that fail to comply with the provisions in the LPA have also been amended.

Edited by: Shreya Bhattacharya