Section 582: Termination of open-ended employment: notice requirements

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 9778/2544 (2001)

   Section 582 fixes the timing of notice to terminate a hire of services by reference to the date on which wages actually fall due, and that date can be varied by the parties' conduct. Where the written work rules fix payment on the last day of the month but the employer has consistently paid one day earlier, that is an implied agreement between employer and employee varying the term of employment as to the payment date, which they may lawfully make. Notice must then be given at or before that actual payment date to take effect at the following one. The section does not override the internal rules regardless of their content: it applies to the payment date as varied.

   The employer's work rules fixed payment of wages on the last day of each month, but the employer had consistently paid one day before the end of the month. The Supreme Court held that this amounted to an implied agreement varying the term of employment as to the payment date from the last day to the day before, which employer and employee were entitled to make. The statutory payment date for June 1998 was therefore 29 June 1998, so an employer wishing to terminate with effect from 1 August 1998 had to give notice by 29 June 1998 at the latest for the notice to be lawful under section 582 paragraph one. The section was applied to the actual, varied payment date and not to the literal wording of the work rule.

   Read the full decision (deka.in.th)

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.