Employers in Thailand must pay 50,000 baht towards funeral if staff member dies

[webfact]

File photo for reference only

 

An announcement in the Government Gazette referred to changes in regulations of the Labour Ministry.

 

Henceforth employers will be obliged to pay 50,000 baht towards funeral expenses of employees who die while employed by them.

 

It was signed by Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin. 

 

The order said that 2020 regulations were now ended and that those who died between October 2018 and the latest change to the order were due payments of 40,000 baht. 

 

Section 2 of the order said that when an employee suffers illness or injury resulting in death or disappears the employer shall be liable to pay funeral expenses in the sum of 50,000 baht. 

 

This was so that the law was "consistent with current economic conditions", stated the Thai media. 

 

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[LazySlipper]

Not fair if employees exhibit risky behavior... just passing the buck...

[The Cipher]

Does this mean employees who die on the job specifically, or employees who die for any reason while employed?

[apex2000]

50 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

Does this mean employees who die on the job specifically, or employees who die for any reason while employed?

It's so clear that I had the same question after reading the report.

[Surelynot]

How utterly ridiculous 

[ukrules]

There will be one very predictable outcome from this.

 

They will only hire the young - they do that a lot anyway but it will get a lot worse, of course it's not illegal as well.

 

Someone just wrote off a couple of generations of people from the age of about 40 up.

[huangnon]

1 hour ago, The Cipher said:

Does this mean employees who die on the job specifically, or employees who die for any reason while employed?

Recently amended to include Covid-19, or vaccine-related deaths?

[BobinBKK]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Section 2 of the order said that when an employee suffers illness or injury resulting in death or disappears the employer shall be liable to pay funeral expenses in the sum of 50,000 baht.

Disappears?

[tonray]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

when an employee suffers illness or injury resulting in death or disappears

..when an employee disappears ....... what ? 

[PETERTHEEATER]

1 hour ago, The Cipher said:

Does this mean employees who die on the job specifically, or employees who die for any reason while employed?

Common sense says it is for employees when at work for their employer. Wait.......common sense? What am I thinking of.......(staggers away mumbling)

 

[ChipButty]

How about the government pays?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, The Cipher said:

Does this mean employees who die on the job specifically, or employees who die for any reason while employed?

 

36 minutes ago, apex2000 said:

It's so clear that I had the same question after reading the report.

"...employers will be obliged to pay 50,000 baht towards funeral expenses of employees who die while employed by them".

Unless you deliberately want to misinterpret what was said, that is perfectly clear.

[Liverpool Lou]

31 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

How utterly ridiculous 

Why?   It's an employee benefit, how can that be "utterly ridiculous"?

[Rookiescot]

12 minutes ago, tonray said:

..when an employee disappears ....... what ? 

Happens in the mafia all the time. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

Disappears?

 

I had the same thought...

 

Though I doubt the Thai government has intended to pass a regulation requiring 50K baht payouts to the victims of politically motivated so-called "enforced disappearances", which usually translate into "enforced deaths."

 

[tonray]

Just now, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I had the same thought...

 

Though I doubt the Thai government has intended to pass a regulation requiring 50K baht payouts to the victims of politically motivated so-called "enforced disappearances", which usually translate into "enforced deaths."

 

What if you disappear and even INTERPOL can't find you in Europe ? (and you're filthy rich)....do you still get the 50K ?

[Liverpool Lou]

29 minutes ago, ukrules said:

There will be one very predictable outcome from this.

 

They will only hire the young - they do that a lot anyway but it will get a lot worse, of course it's not illegal as well.

 

Someone just wrote off a couple of generations of people from the age of about 40 up.

It's not something new, are there some stats somewhere that show that employers have been writing off "a couple of generations" or changing the demographic of those employed as a result of this obligation?

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why?   It's an employee benefit, how can that be "utterly ridiculous"?

It has been made an employee benefit by central diktat, imposing unnecessary costs on an employer......that is why it is utterly ridiculous........how do you think employers in the UK would react if Bunter turned around and said.......any employee who dies, you have to give the family a £5000.....no way.

[Rookiescot]

3 minutes ago, tonray said:

What if you disappear and even INTERPOL can't find you in Europe ? (and you're filthy rich)....do you still get the 50K ?

If you are filthy rich then interpol have not been told to look for you.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

6 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why?   It's an employee benefit, how can that be "utterly ridiculous"?

It has been made an employee benefit by central diktat, imposing unnecessary costs on an employer......that is why it is utterly ridiculous

So it's an employees' benefit and only "utterly ridiculous" to employers, then.  That doesn't make it ridiculous, never mind "utterly ridiculous", it makes it a good idea, even though it's not a new idea in principle.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

If you are filthy rich then interpol have not been told to look for you.

Interpol doesn't look for anyone, police forces and government agencies do that.

[Dogmatix]

The employer even has to pay funeral expenses if the employee disappears.  Predict there will be a lot of disappearances.   

 

Having to pay for an employee that gets drunk and kills himself on his motor bike in his free time seems unfair too.

[The Cipher]

14 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"...employers will be obliged to pay 50,000 baht towards funeral expenses of employees who die while employed by them".

Unless you deliberately want to misinterpret what was said, that is perfectly clear.

Wild. No social safety net when you're alive, but if you die, bam - here's funds for your funeral.

[pagallim]

25 minutes ago, tonray said:

..when an employee disappears ....... what ? 

I believe that the fishing industry has more than its fair share of disappearing employees for whom it isn't unusual for a few to be lost overboard and never recovered.

[wprime]

12 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why?   It's an employee benefit, how can that be "utterly ridiculous"?

Because generalised benefits benefit those who use them at the expense of those who don't. In other words, higher risk people have their funeral expenses subsidised by lower risk people. When Somchai undertakes a left turning cement truck and his brains get smeared across 20m of pavement, why should his co-workers have to fork out for his funeral?

 

(The reason co-workers are the ones that pay are because employers simply factor this as a cost in hiring which reduces the amount they can pay for employees so everyone gets lower wages).

 

Unless of course they mean dying on the job, in which case it's good because it encourages the employer to invest in safety initiatives.

[jaltsc]

"Henceforth employers will be obliged to pay 50,000 baht towards funeral expenses of employees who die while employed by them."

 

"What lousy luck. He was just fired yesterday for drinking on the job. That puts us off the hook"

Edited July 14, 2021 by jaltsc

[Rookiescot]

6 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Interpol doesn't look for anyone, police forces and government agencies do that.

I think we are all fully aware of how interpol works.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

Wild. No social safety net when you're alive, but if you die, bam - here's funds for your funeral.

If they're employed there's no need for a "social safety net" because they're employed and salaried. The benefit in the OP is not a social safety net, it's an employer-provided benefit.

[mancub]

35 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

Disappears?

You know, like sneaks off to Dubai !

[Liverpool Lou]

3 minutes ago, wprime said:

The reason co-workers are the ones that pay are because employers simply factor this as a cost in hiring which reduces the amount they can pay for employees so everyone gets lower wages

Co-workers don't pay, most employer's have insurance policies that pay out in these circumstances.