Employers in Thailand must follow strict procedures and retain material evidence if they wish to terminate an employee “for cause” without making a severance payment.

Generally, terminated employees are not entitled to severance pay if their is material evidence of the following causes:

  • Crime committed against employer;
  • Intentional act causing employer to suffer damage;
  • Negligent act causing the employer to suffer damage;
  • Violation of work rules after a written warning has been issued;
  • Absence for 3 consecutive working days without a legitimate excuse;
  • Employee has been sentenced to imprisonment.

Employees violating work rules must be given a written warning, which is enforceable for 1 year from date in which the employee committed the violation.

Persuading an employee to sign a resignation letter is the only short cut employers can use to avoid having to make severance payments to an unwanted employee.

Filing police reports is often a tactic that can be used to make unruly and unlawful employees sign a resignation letter.

Employers are also not required to pay severance pay to employees working under a written employment agreement on specific projects that are not the normal work of the employer and which have a definite period of employment of not more than 2 years.

Teachers employed by a licensed Private School in Thailand are not eligible to receive severance pay benefits in cases of termination regardless of the reason.

Section 86 of the Thailand Private Schools Act states as follows:  “The affairs of a Formal School only on the part of the Director, teachers and educational personnel shall not be subject to the law on labor protection, the law on labor relations, the law on social security and the law on compensation.”

Thus, teachers coming to Thailand to teach at a licensed Private School must negotiate a termination payment as part of the employment contract in advance if they want such compensation.

Our employee termination service includes the following:

Our severance claim service includes the following:

  • Meeting with client to discuss case.
  • Review documents and advise for chances of success.
  • Prepare resignation letter in English and Thai.
  • Prepare settlement agreement in English and Thai.
  • Attend meeting to terminate the employee.
  • Correspondence by email, telephone and in person meetings when necessary.