Révisé par ThaiLawOnline, un cabinet d'avocats thaïlandais agréé exerçant en Thaïlande depuis 2006. Avocate thaïlandaise en charge du dossier : Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., licence du barreau thaïlandais 3149/2556.
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Before hiring in Thailand, put the pay, working hours, duties and leave terms in writing. Before dismissing someone, review the evidence and calculate each amount due. A contract borrowed from another country rarely addresses those tasks properly.
This guide covers ordinary private-sector employment. Special rules and exclusions require separate attention. The number of staff affects some duties, but a small business should not assume employment protection starts only at ten employees.
Start with a workable employment contract
State the employer, position, workplace, reporting line, wage components, pay dates, hours, leave and notice terms. Explain any commission or bonus formula rather than leaving the manager and employee to interpret a broad promise later.
Written terms make disputes easier to assess, although not every employment relationship requires a written contract. The label “consultant” also does not decide whether someone is an employee. Review the real arrangement, including supervision, duties and how payment is earned.
Probation is still employment. Keep a clear assessment process and review performance early. Ending employment before the statutory severance threshold does not remove all notice, payment or unfair-dismissal risks.
Do not confuse a fixed term with a severance exemption
A contract ending on a stated date is not automatically exempt from severance. Section 118 contains a narrow exception for qualifying project, occasional or seasonal work. The conditions include the type of work, completion within two years and a written contract made at the start.
Check the substance before relying on this exception. Repeatedly calling an ordinary continuing job a short contract does not provide a dependable way around employment obligations.
Work rules and personnel records
Employers with ten or more employees must prepare work rules in Thai under section 108. The rules cover matters such as hours, holidays, pay arrangements, leave, discipline, complaints and termination. Keep the applicable rules accessible to employees and retain evidence of communication.
Review the current publication and record-keeping requirements when adopting or changing rules. Do not copy an old instruction to file every handbook with the Labour Department. Filing duties for particular returns are a separate issue.
Maintain contracts, time records, leave requests, payroll calculations, warnings and the employee’s response. An unsigned accusation written after dismissal is a weak substitute for a properly documented process.
Hours, overtime and holidays
For ordinary work, the general limits are eight hours a day and 48 hours a week, subject to lawful arrangements and exceptions. Specified hazardous work has lower limits. Plan rest breaks and weekly holidays as part of the schedule.
Overtime generally requires consent on each occasion, subject to statutory exceptions. A broad sentence in the contract should not be treated as permission to disregard the law.
| Work | General minimum payment |
|---|---|
| Overtime on an ordinary working day | 1.5 times the ordinary hourly wage. |
| Work during normal hours on a holiday | An additional one times the rate for someone already entitled to holiday wages; two times for someone not entitled to those holiday wages. |
| Overtime on a holiday | Three times the ordinary hourly wage. |
Classify the day and employee’s entitlement before calculating pay. Different roles and work arrangements require a check of the applicable exceptions. Do not use one multiplier for every weekend shift.
Check the leave policy against current minimums
| Partir | General entitlement |
|---|---|
| Annual holiday | At least six working days after one year of continuous service. |
| congé maladie | Leave for the period of genuine illness. Statutory paid sick leave is limited to 30 working days a year; the leave itself is not simply capped at 30 days. |
| Necessary business leave | At least three paid working days a year. |
| congé de maternité | Up to 120 days per pregnancy; employer-paid wages for up to 60 days. |
| Leave to assist a spouse after childbirth | Up to 15 days with full pay, subject to the statutory conditions. |
| Additional infant-care leave | Up to 15 days in the qualifying medical circumstances, with 50% wages and the required supporting evidence. |
The expanded childbirth-related entitlements took effect on 7 December 2025. Update older handbooks and payroll settings. The Ministry of Labour explains the amendment here. Other leave categories, including military service and sterilisation, need their own policy treatment.
Remote work needs written terms
For an agreed remote-working arrangement, record the hours, supervision, equipment, expenses and arrangements for contact outside working hours. Section 23/1 addresses written or electronic agreements and the right to refuse contact outside the relevant working period, subject to prior written consent.
Set realistic availability expectations. A manager should not assume an employee working from home is permanently on call.
Before dismissal, separate the legal questions
Notice, severance, final wages and unfair dismissal are different issues. Paying one does not necessarily resolve the others. Review the contract, pay cycle, length of service, reason for dismissal and any special protection before setting the final date.
For an indefinite contract, the ordinary statutory notice mechanism is tied to wage-payment dates. Calculate the actual dates rather than assuming every case requires exactly 30 days. The relevant general provisions include LPA section 17 and Civil and Commercial Code section 582.
Where statutory severance is due, section 118 uses the following service bands:
| Service continu | Minimum severance |
|---|---|
| 120 days to under one year | 30 days’ wages |
| One year to under three years | 90 days’ wages |
| Three years to under six years | 180 days’ wages |
| Six years to under ten years | 240 days’ wages |
| Ten years to under twenty years | 300 days’ wages |
| Twenty years or more | 400 days’ wages |
Check which payments constitute wages and whether a statutory exception applies. Section 119 contains specified grounds for withholding severance; “poor attitude” or an unsupported allegation is not a substitute for proving the applicable ground. Warning requirements and the reason communicated at termination matter.
Prepare an itemised final-payment calculation and confirm the deadline for each component before giving notice. Where an exit is negotiated, review the settlement separately. Our severance waiver guide explains why a waiver should not be treated as a standard hiring clause.
Employee Welfare Fund: prepare for October 2026
Le Royal Decree fixing the collection start date schedules contributions from 1 October 2026. The rate regulation provides an initial employee contribution of 0.25% of wages, matched by 0.25% from the employer, with an increase scheduled from October 2031.
Before changing payroll, determine which employees are covered and whether a qualifying provident fund or alternative arrangement gives an exemption. Do not assume a scheme covering some staff exempts everyone. Confirm registration, deductions and remittance requirements with the payroll provider. Our Employee Welfare Fund checklist sets out the preparation work.
What an employer should review now
Compare the contract, work rules and payroll settings against one another. Resolve inconsistent hours, obsolete leave terms, unclear allowances and missing records. Before a dismissal, provide the complete personnel file and the proposed reason while there is still time to correct the process.
Arrange an employment-law review. Bring the contract, work rules, recent payroll records and any warning or termination documents.
Further sources: Ministry of Labour legislation; ILO Thailand employment-protection database. Older official summaries should be read with subsequent amendments.
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