Warning employers to pay foreign wages to risk jail and fines of hundreds of thousands

      Hiring contract workers or subcontract workers through a contractor agency is one of the most common forms of employment in Thailand.

      The employment of this type of labor causes the business operator's responsibility to the labor contractor to be limited to the rights and duties under the Labor Protection Act only, excluding the rights and duties under other labor laws such as the Labor Relations Act, the Act on Establishment of Labor Court and Labor Court Procedure, and others. The employee brought in by a labor contractor will not have the right to sue for damages from unfair dismissal or file a claim for change of employment conditions to the operator. 

      Therefore, if an employer pays a lump sum wage, there will be a penalty, rated according to the Foreigners' Working Management Emergency Decree 2017 and the amendments, which are as follows: 

1. If a person is allowed to bring foreigners to work or bring foreigners to be employees of employers who contract labor or wages or bring foreigners to work while they are labor contractors or wage contractors, it is a violation of Section  110/1 which is punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding 200,000 baht, or both.  The body having the power to punish under this section is the court. 

2. If an employer brings a foreigner who has come to work in accordance with the memorandum of agreement or memorandum of understanding to work in the country that the Thai government has made with the foreign government to work in the country with him as a labor contractor or wage contractor, it is considered a violation of Section 113, with a fine not exceeding 200,000 baht. The person with the power to punish under this section is the provincial governor. 

      On 1 October 2022, the Wage Committee, in the Ministry of Labor, made a resolution ordering the Thai minimum wage to be adjusted to 328-354 baht per day (depending on each province).

      This minimum wage rate also includes the wage rate of foreigners who come to work in Thailand legally. 

Source : Office of the Council of State
Tel : +66 2221 5306