Wife hasn't gotten paid in almost 2 months here in Chiang Mai

[tstcman]

So my Thai wife works for a Singapore and hi husband and wife operation that owns a dance studio and they have decided that they don't need to pay my wife or her co-workers for last month and it's starting to look like next month as well. They continue to give excuses as to why they can't pay but they seem to be able to hire a third admin and continue to pay the 12 teachers that they have contracted.

 

I got fed up with this and called 1111 and reported that her employer was withholding wages. If they actually do their due diligence they will find that more than half the employees at that company are working without work permits but I didn't mention that they'll find out on their own if they actually do their job. Cherry on top of all this is the fact that this is the third version of this company that they have had. Meaning the first two failed and who knows if they did the same kind of thing before with their old employees oh, so it seems like they have a track record for this kind of thing but we didn't know that when she got hired almost 4 months ago.

 

And the other thing was that when she got hired she signed a contract stating that when she made three months and was continued to be employed by the company she would get a raise from 10000 baht to 12000 baht. This week all of a sudden they brought her in and said instead of getting a raise they were cutting her hours down to five days a week and dropping her pay to 8,000. Which I know is a breach of contract, because they're continuing to employ her and she has passed the evaluation. Of 3 months she's legally owed 12000 month. So on top of everything they are f****** her out of almost $133 usd a month. 

 

So the question becomes, until and if the Thai government actually follows through and investigates this, can or should we get an attorney to try to get the 20000 + baht she is owed by the company she works for for the past 2 months of work almost it will be 2 months on the 5th that she hasn't gotten paid.

[darrendsd]

Had a similar issue with a friend of mine - her boss wasn't paying her (farang boss)

 

Long story short she went to the Tesabahn - a lady from there went to visit the workplace and told the boss he had to pay his staff - if he didn't he would no longer get the paperwork he needed to continue his business and action would also be taken against him for not paying his staff

 

So my advice is to go to the Tessabahn and see what they say

 

 

[bwpage3]

Why try to recover money when a lawyer will cost 20K and then some?

 

Suggest you go to the village head to put some pressure on them.

 

The village head can bring up the people working with no work permits etc. and maybe scare them into paying.

 

Or go right to the police station and don't hold back.

 

They like arrested foreigners will no work permits and they might get your money back, albeit a small tip for them!

[connda]

Complain locally.  The nearer the source of the problem.  Well, unless those in the local government are part of the problem.  But most likely not. 
Head of the village, head of the keht, local governance, especially if your wife is a Thai national.  They may not give a hoot about you, but they do tend to like their own.

But then again?  Is she working in Thailand or Singapore? 

[FritsSikkink]

Contact the labor office, they will help you for free.

[dingdongrb]

Why does she continue to go to work if she isn't getting paid?

[chuang]

Getting a lawyer over 20K baht...like throwing good money after bad money....

[CharlieH]

Labor Office is the starting place, they will guide and advise and usually assist in resolving any conflict.

[DLock]

Labor Office is very pro-employee and assuming her contract is in order, she can open a case against her Employer, who will have to front up to defend the case.

 

If everything is as clear cut as you say, and she has contract in hand, she will win...but it will take time, as in months of setting meetings, arbitration and negotiating a settlement.

 

There must be a local Director that is signing things, so that's who they will go after.

 

Forget any talk of lawyers, you don't need one.

[CharlieH]

Several troll posts removed.

 

 

[natway09]

First rule, "you butt out" It has nothing to do with you & if you persist as a farang they will get 

rid of her.

Let her beat the drum with you as moral support only

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2021 at 5:09 PM, natway09 said:

First rule, "you butt out" It has nothing to do with you & if you persist as a farang they will get 

rid of her.

Let her beat the drum with you as moral support only

It is his wife, so he has everything to do with it. He doesn't need to do anything the labor office will take care of it. Do you know anything about Thai labor law?

[fgmr]

On 1/27/2021 at 12:18 PM, darrendsd said:

Had a similar issue with a friend of mine - her boss wasn't paying her (farang boss)

 

Long story short she went to the Tesabahn - a lady from there went to visit the workplace and told the boss he had to pay his staff - if he didn't he would no longer get the paperwork he needed to continue his business and action would also be taken against him for not paying his staff

 

So my advice is to go to the Tessabahn and see what they say

 

 

'until 2019 i live in rural NE Thailand for 12 years and never came across rhe word Tessabahn, What, who is it?

[canthai55]

8 hours ago, fgmr said:

'until 2019 i live in rural NE Thailand for 12 years and never came across rhe word Tessabahn, What, who is it?

Sub District

Amphur - district

example - T. Papong = Tessaban Papong  A. Doi Saket = Amphur Doi Saket

[Dante99]

36 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Sub District

Amphur - district

example - T. Papong = Tessaban Papong  A. Doi Saket = Amphur Doi Saket

So then what is Tamboon often written T. Rim Tai for example.  How do we know if the T is for Tessaban or Tamboon?  What is the difference between Tamboon and Tessaban?

[canthai55]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesaban

[darrendsd]

On 1/28/2021 at 4:16 PM, DLock said:

Labor Office is very pro-employee and assuming her contract is in order, she can open a case against her Employer, who will have to front up to defend the case.

 

If everything is as clear cut as you say, and she has contract in hand, she will win...but it will take time, as in months of setting meetings, arbitration and negotiating a settlement.

 

There must be a local Director that is signing things, so that's who they will go after.

 

Forget any talk of lawyers, you don't need one.

 

If everything is as clear cut as you say, and she has contract in hand, she will win...but it will take time, as in months of setting meetings, arbitration and negotiating a settlement.

 

Why would it take months?

 

The employer is not paying employees - they know what they are doing is wrong and if they won't settle quickly they know their business will be closed down very quickly

 

If they want the business to continue then they know they have to settle this ASAP

[DLock]

6 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

 

If everything is as clear cut as you say, and she has contract in hand, she will win...but it will take time, as in months of setting meetings, arbitration and negotiating a settlement.

 

Why would it take months?

 

The employer is not paying employees - they know what they are doing is wrong and if they won't settle quickly they know their business will be closed down very quickly

 

If they want the business to continue then they know they have to settle this ASAP

 

Because your wife isn't the only person that is not being paid or has a dispute, so there is a queue of people to deal with.

 

Your Wife has to lodge her case with the Labour Office, which is very straight forward, then, assuming she has a case, they will contact the Director of the company via registered post and invite them in to respond to the case in person. This could take a month and generally just an information gathering session, not an outcome session.

 

Then it depends on the case officer how fast it proceeds and next steps - it's not always consistent, but if it goes to arbitration (negotiated settlement), it then depends on the case load - could be a few weeks or a few months till that meeting. Arbitration meeting is most often an outcome, and payment is done immediately.

 

If the Director wants to fight the case, which he can do, he will likely have to deposit the amount in question with the court first, as a guarantee if he loses, that there is money to pay. He does have the right to refuse to pay, and proceed to Civil Court, which will take years just to get a court date...but this is rare.

 

In the meantime, the business will not be affected, as this is a civil issue, not a criminal issue and the Police have no jurisdiction, unless the Director does not respond to the registered email - then the Labour Office can hand this to police to handle.

 

Even if the Director loses, he only has to pay the outstanding wages (or negotiate less), so for an Employer, it's just a delaying tactic - and some employees don't go to Labour Court, so he is just playing the system.

 

It is a process. It works, and is quite efficient, but like all processes in Thailand, it takes time.

[moe666]

2 hours ago, Dante99 said:

So then what is Tamboon often written T. Rim Tai for example.  How do we know if the T is for Tessaban or Tamboon?  What is the difference between Tamboon and Tessaban?

 

[moe666]

Go to labour department, my daughter was fired from her job in BKK at a travel firm, after a few months of investigation by the labour department she had a nice vacation in Europe

[Mark1066]

7 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Sub District

Amphur - district

example - T. Papong = Tessaban Papong  A. Doi Saket = Amphur Doi Saket

Yeah that's not what the T stands for in your address. That's Tambon

[canthai55]

29 minutes ago, Mark1066 said:

Yeah that's not what the T stands for in your address. That's Tambon

Wrong

[Mark1066]

10 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Wrong

Great answer but no it isn't wrong. Thesaban is the local government, not the sub-district. They may often, but not always, cover the same area.

 

If you're still confused, take a look at a letter or bill that's been sent to you. Your sub-district, when abbreviated in Thai will be ต. xxxx. That ต stands for ตำบล (tambon). If it were thesaban (เทศบาล) it would obviously be abbreviated with ท. and not ต.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Mark1066

[Dante99]

10 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

39 minutes ago, Mark1066 said:

Yeah that's not what the T stands for in your address. That's Tambon

Wrong

T in an address means Tamboon which is the name for a subdistrict, a geographical area.  As Mark states, Tessaban is an administrative unit which your own posted Wiki site link states rather clearly and may be for a variety of areas not just a sub district, go back and read the Wiki you posted.

[Dante99]

18 minutes ago, Mark1066 said:

That ต stands for ตำบล (tambon). If it were thesaban (เทศบาล) it would obviously be abbreviated with ท. and not ต.

Very clear but not if you can not ask where the toilet is in Thai and ... understand the answer.  

[canthai55]

See post #2

You can not ask questions of a Tambon - the gov't office associated with it is called the Tessabahn, where real living, breathing employees work.

Asking questions of a sign will be fruitless

All hair splitters rejoice - order has been restored

[Mark1066]

7 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

See post #2

You can not ask questions of a Tambon - the gov't office associated with it is called the Tessabahn, where real living, breathing employees work.

Asking questions of a sign will be fruitless

All hair splitters rejoice - order has been restored

I simply pointed out that the T. in your example address is for tambon and not thesaban, and you decided to tell me I was wrong. The fact is, you were wrong, but apparently your ego is preventing you from admitting that. Nobody suggested that one could ask questions of a tambon, quite the opposite in fact. We were pointing out the difference as you seem to be confused.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 2/1/2021 at 6:56 AM, Dante99 said:

So then what is Tamboon often written T. Rim Tai for example.  How do we know if the T is for Tessaban or Tamboon?  What is the difference between Tamboon and Tessaban?

“Tamboon”, which most spell and pronounce as tambol, is your subdistrict. As far as I know, not much government activity that people get involved with occurs at this level.

 

More activity occurs at the district level, the amphur or amphoe. That’s where you go for issues with Thai citizens, such as their ID cards, and getting married or divorced.

 

Matters of business occur at the thesaban, or municipal level. When I taught as a thesaban teacher, this is where I went to pick up my paychecks. I also went there to help my landladies out submitting their apartment building paperwork. As they deal with business licenses, this is also where people can submit business complaints. In fact I helped my old boss translate some letters they received, from some angry farangs. Where they went from there, who knows. But it’s always better to try.

Edited February 3, 2021 by CrunchWrapSupreme

[scorecard]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:12 PM, darrendsd said:

 

If everything is as clear cut as you say, and she has contract in hand, she will win...but it will take time, as in months of setting meetings, arbitration and negotiating a settlement.

 

Why would it take months?

 

The employer is not paying employees - they know what they are doing is wrong and if they won't settle quickly they know their business will be closed down very quickly

 

If they want the business to continue then they know they have to settle this ASAP

 

Is she still working there?

 

You say it's failed twice before and they are now trying to play games with her hours. Employers who do things like this don't change, they do it again.

 

Just one question - why not bite the bullet and move on?

 

 

[Rama]

Easiest and cheapest is the Labor Department. They deal with this sort of problem all the time.