Severance pay in Thailand - are housing allowances included?

[james542]

Hello,

 

I was recently dismissed from my job, having worked there for 5 years. I'm a foreign worker with full work permit, all fully legal with taxes paid etc.

 

My employer has said I'm entitled to 6 months severance pay. All sounds fine from what I've read about Thai labour law. They are however claiming that only the 'base salary' qualifies for severance pay. My base salary is 90,000 a month, but in addition to that I have a housing allowance of 30,000 a month. 

 

So the employer wants to pay me 6*90,000 (base salary) rather than 6*120,000 (base salary + housing allowance).

 

Is this legal? Just to be clear, the employer never provided me housing, or checked to see what the housing allowance was spent on. I was paid 120,000 (minus taxes) into my bank account each month.

 

If this is legal then of course I will accept it, but I would like to check here first...do fixed allowances count as part of the monthly wage for calculating severance or not? If allowances have to be included, I'm sure my employer would pay the full amount if I can quote the relevant laws that require them to do so...I don't get the impression they're trying to screw me to save money, more than they believe that only base salary is what the severance pay law is.

Edited April 29, 2020 by james542

[Chungju]

Yes, fixed allowances need to be included in the severance calculation. You better push your company fo this and if they refuse, do not sign anything to keep your options open. 
 

More details in these two links:

https://hsfnotes.com/employment/2014/06/24/thailand-what-amounts-to-wages/

https://www.taylorvinters.com/article/thailand-supreme-court-ruling-on-wages-and-allowances

 

[james542]

3 hours ago, Chungju said:

Yes, fixed allowances need to be included in the severance calculation. You better push your company fo this and if they refuse, do not sign anything to keep your options open. 
 

More details in these two links:

https://hsfnotes.com/employment/2014/06/24/thailand-what-amounts-to-wages/

https://www.taylorvinters.com/article/thailand-supreme-court-ruling-on-wages-and-allowances

 

 

Thank you for this. If they did not pay the housing allowance, would the next step be to go the the labour court to try and get the difference back? (i.e. in this case 6 * 30000). How much would that typically cost if it needs fighting in court? 

Edited April 30, 2020 by james542

[Chungju]

9 hours ago, james542 said:

 

Thank you for this. If they did not pay the housing allowance, would the next step be to go the the labour court to try and get the difference back? (i.e. in this case 6 * 30000). How much would that typically cost if it needs fighting in court? 

Yes, that would be the next step. Probably takes about 8 months and cost around 50kthb. But you better visit the labour office first, they are very helpful and might offer some free options (letter, statement etc) to convince your company to pay as the company is almost 100% sure to lose this case. In addition to the 6*30000, the company also need to pay Interest, penalties and hire a lawyer etc, plus expose themselves to labour office inspection, so if they are smart, they pay without going to court. Just keep on the pressure for the company 

[Neeranam]

13 hours ago, james542 said:

 

Thank you for this. If they did not pay the housing allowance, would the next step be to go the the labour court to try and get the difference back? (i.e. in this case 6 * 30000). How much would that typically cost if it needs fighting in court? 

get to the Labour Office now -  they have free lawyers

[Neeranam]

3 hours ago, Chungju said:

Yes, that would be the next step. Probably takes about 8 months and cost around 50kthb. But you better visit the labour office first, they are very helpful and might offer some free options (letter, statement etc) to convince your company to pay as the company is almost 100% sure to lose this case. In addition to the 6*30000, the company also need to pay Interest, penalties and hire a lawyer etc, plus expose themselves to labour office inspection, so if they are smart, they pay without going to court. Just keep on the pressure for the company 

Indeed, they would 99% settle out of court, they don't want to pay 15% !