Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 Sorry Khun Sanuk not to put this in the legal section but I need to get a quick answer. I'll move it after a day or two. Today I arrived at work to find that my services were no longer required. Apparently the company doesn't have enough money to pay my salary and the two farangs who work there were turfed out on to the street like a couple of dogs. I asked the boss if surely the company could pay me until the end of the month but my contract was terminated with immediate effect. I had worked there for 18 months. It's a shot in the dark I know but do I have any grounds for claiming compensation? I don't particularly want things to get ugly but a few thousand baht wouldn't go amiss right now. Cheers lads. [Removed reference to my name] [ October 05, 2001: Message edited by: Khun Sanuk ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom Michael Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 Phil, Did you have a work permit ? If yes, then you have many rights and the Labour Department is the first place that I would have gone to after my services were no longer needed. If not, then it will be much harder, and probably cost you more in fees to lawyers, etc.. than you could possibly expect from your employer. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 Hi Micheal, Yes, I had a work permit and paid taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 VERY sorry to hear what happened to you. Go to the Department of Labour. As far as I am aware, so long as you are legally employed with work permit, you have rights and if you get laid off by a company, then there are certain stipulations as to what they must do - a severance package is set out in law, or at least so I understand. I WOULD push it. Obviously how the law is applied is another case altogether... Stick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Gun Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Bangkok Phil: Today I arrived at work to find that my services were no longer required. Apparently the company doesn't have enough money to pay my salary and the two farangs who work there were turfed out on to the street like a couple of dogs. I asked the boss if surely the company could pay me until the end of the month but my contract was terminated with immediate effect. I had worked there for 18 months. It's a shot in the dark I know but do I have any grounds for claiming compensation? I don't particularly want things to get ugly but a few thousand baht wouldn't go amiss right now. The bastards! Was Liverpool Jim one of the others? Very sorry to hear about this sort of shit. I hereby propose that the quiz team(s) on Tuesday donate all their winnings to your survival fund. You'll be glad of those holdalls one day! LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 According to the Labour Law, you are due 90 days' wages if you worked more than one year but less than 3 years. That is, unless you were fired for cause. The Labour Court is very predisposed towards the worker -- even farang workers. Take the bastards to court if they refuse to pay. Of course, if the company is really bankrupt you may have a difficult time getting the money out of them, even with a court verdict in your favor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 Thanks for all the support guys I kind of knew that I was entitled to something and I guess that 3 months salary is worth fighting for. However, 2 things concern me. a) I never actually signed a contract of employment. I had a work permit and paid taxes but the relationship I had with the boss was more like that of good friends than employer/employee. She felt it perhaps tacky to hand me a pc of paper telling me what time I should start work, etc. She still found it in her heart to turf me out on the street though. The board of directors at this company includes some pretty 'powerful' people. I've always got on well with them but you know how powerful people hate it when the smaller people try and take their money - especially if they can find a loophole and avoid paying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 When I was in Thailand a few years back, our JV company had problems (we had to pull out) and a number of employees were laid-off. I just had a few drinks with the lawyer we used (a farang friend) in Thailand (now back in Hong Kong), and mentioned your problem. He said Thailand has a Labour Protection law that is very protective of employees. It essentially works like this: - Unless you are terminated for "cause", you are entitled to severance based on the length of your service. If you worked for 18 months, you fall in the 1 year to 3 years category, and are entitled 3 months salary. - You need to be given one month's notice, which means your severance package should include one more month for a total of 4 months. My friend said something about "timing of the notice" while I was paying more attention to a waitress than him so I didn't quite get it. - He mentioned that that the managers of the company are personally liable for this obligation. This is a point I remember all to well because our local partner put us in a bad spot on that one (basically decided to do the layoffs without consulting us or a lawyer first.) My suggestion: go to Asia books, see if you can find an English translation of the Labour Protection law, write a polite letter to your employers citing the relevant sections, and politely ask for compensation. If that does not work, see a lawyer. (They certainly are not as expensive as Hong Kong lawyers; the decent ones charge about US$600 ++ per hour.) Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 OK, more. My friend just called (not about your case, but about where we meet for drinks tonight, and who is paying for the first round .) He said he "thinks" the relevant code section in the Labour Protection Act is section 119. He said that when you are terminated, you are entitled to pay through the next pay period, and only then does the 90 day severance period start. If you got notice this week and you get paid at the end of the month, you are entitled to salary through the end of the month, and then another three month's severance pay. If your compensation includes meals, a car, accomodations, etc., that should figure into calculation of your severance package. He suggested talking to a guy named Ron Cristal with Bangkok Associates (??), some NY lawyer who handles smaller matters, but said this might even too small for him. Sorry, no contact details, but he said he thought his office was still on Silom near in the CP Tower. He suggested sticking with a firm that has farang management to avoid "reliability" and communication problems. I can endorse this view. He said that if you do sue, claim for wrongful termination. Thai courts will sometimes add a month for every year's service (now we are up to five months), but pressure you and your employer to settle for severance plus notice. Finally, he said US$600 an hour for a lawyer in Hong Kong is a bargain at twice the price. Bullshit. Anyway, I am buying at tonight - I cannot ever recall getting out there for less than US$100 for a round. There is a Thai girl by the name of Yen who said she used to work at G-Spot (it took a lot of liquor to get this admission out of her) there. Fantastic rack. Anyone remember her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
follies Posted October 6, 2001 Report Share Posted October 6, 2001 Phil, More confirmation, if you need it... WGinzer is absolutely correct. Company that I used to work for (Western, but registered in Thailand) did the same thing to a couple of Brits about a year ago. One guy took it meekly and went home...the other (coincidentally he had been with the company about the same length of time as you) did exactly what you are proposing (polite letter, pointing out the law, etc. The company paid him 3 months salary plus the salary period (2 weeks) in which he was terminated. You have the upper hand - they can get hit with some serious fines for this sort of crap (word of caution, you know this better than I, we are talking about Thailand here, this might be slow.....). Good luck with this - I hate to hear about people being treated like disposable objects ...follies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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