Can an employer unilaterally revoke work permit? Or does it need to be cooperative?

[mankindmatt5]

Friend of mine is in a bit of a nasty dispute with employer.

 

Employer insists that they come into the office, despite the pandemic chaos and crucially despite the fact that their role can be completed with no issue from home (entirely laptop based role)

 

Employer offered an ultimatum, continue to work from office - or - we will need to reconsider your position, which may cause problems re; work permit and visa. - i.e come into the office, or you are getting booted out of Thailand.

 

Now, my understanding is that when you are fired or resign from a position the employee needs to surrender their work permit, sign various documents and then inform immigration of this - before leaving the country. 

 

So, what if the employee refused to do this? Can they stay from the remainder of their extension of stay without issue? What if the employee will not go to the Labour office, and will not give up work permit and visa?

 

What recourse does the employer have? Can the company representatives go to Labour or Immigration on their own and say 'My employee has left this company' - which would start a 24hour countdown to leave the country?

 

It's likely that the situation will be resolved more amicably than this, but it's good to know what may happen in a worst case scenario

 

NB: All the people involved in this are foreigners,  its a non-Thai company, no Thais at all, if that makes any difference. 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

24 minutes ago, mankindmatt5 said:

What recourse does the employer have? Can the company representatives go to Labour or Immigration on their own and say 'My employee has left this company' - which would start a 24hour countdown to leave the country?

They need a power of attorney signed by you to cancel the work permit.

Immigration will not cancel a extension without your passport and in most cases you would need to present when it was done.

[mankindmatt5]

13 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

They need a power of attorney signed by you to cancel the work permit.

Immigration will not cancel a extension without your passport and in most cases you would need to present when it was done.

Thank you for the quick response.

 

So in theory, the threat of taking away a work permit and visa is meaningless, if the employee is unwilling to comply with that?

 

Although obviously they can't expect another extension and need to start planning to leave at some point in the future or find a new visa situation.

[BritTim]

My advice is that your friend talk with the Labour office, explaining that the employer is trying to force him to violate the lockdown regulations that specifically state that employees must work from home unless their job is such that this is not possible. I strongly suspect that one phone call from the Labour department will resolve this satisfactorily. I understand that the employer might be upset by such an action, but it is a serious matter and should be treated as such.

[mankindmatt5]

10 minutes ago, BritTim said:

My advice is that your friend talk with the Labour office, explaining that the employer is trying to force him to violate the lockdown regulations that specifically state that employees must work from home unless their job is such that this is not possible. I strongly suspect that one phone call from the Labour department will resolve this satisfactorily. I understand that the employer might be upset by such an action, but it is a serious matter and should be treated as such.

Good point. I have already advised them that if things get particularly dirty/unpleasant that a call to Labour mentioning this would be a good idea. The main employer boss is actually overseas, dictating orders from their home country, so I don't know how much of an impact it might have. But you are 100% correct

[AlQaholic]

Employer have the right to fire anyone at any time, if it is done without having a valid reason (the employee has broken company rules and/or regulations and has been warned repeatedly), the employee that gets fired is entitled to a severance payment according the labor protection act, based on how many years employed-don't forget this point. The work permit has nothing to do with this process, other than when the holder of the permit is fired, it is no longer valid, as I understand it.

 

Labor department always take the initial position to try to resolve the conflict first.

Edited July 23, 2021 by AlQaholic

[DrJack54]

Why can't he go to office. Yes there are restrictions. I know folk that are working daily in an office.

If I was the boss I would want to move him on.

[GrandPapillon]

20 hours ago, mankindmatt5 said:

Thank you for the quick response.

 

So in theory, the threat of taking away a work permit and visa is meaningless, if the employee is unwilling to comply with that?

 

Although obviously they can't expect another extension and need to start planning to leave at some point in the future or find a new visa situation.

call the labour department, also if you get fired for no valid reason, employer will need to pay compensation

 

labor laws are quite strong in Thailand, it's just that Thai don't know how to use them or don't want to be bothered to use them, because you know "think too much" ????

[mankindmatt5]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:57 PM, DrJack54 said:

Why can't he go to office. Yes there are restrictions. I know folk that are working daily in an office.

If I was the boss I would want to move him on.

Because the government has given an urgent warning urging anyone who can work from home, to do so.

 

Are you not bored of this Covid lockdown cycle lifestyle yet? Having people out of the house, on public transport, taxis, mixing with staff in the office is one of the major vectors of this thing.

 

But no, let's fuel the virus - for the sake of presenteeism.

 

Maybe it's bad for business? Well, not as bad as ending up with an infected staff member and having to shut down and self isolate the entire place for 2 weeks.

 

NB: Obviously some jobs can't be done from home. But if all you need is a laptop and a WiFi connection, stay put.

Edited July 24, 2021 by mankindmatt5

[digbeth]

being absent from work for 2 days or more (or after multiple written warnings depending on company bylaw) is ground for being terminated without severance pay, they'll probably play this card 

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, digbeth said:

being absent from work for 2 days or more (or after multiple written warnings depending on company bylaw) is ground for being terminated without severance pay, they'll probably play this card 

That would be convenient if the authorities ordered an office closed for a week because of a Covid infection in the office. According to your interpretation, this would be an excellent time for the employer to dismiss any staff they wished to get rid of on the basis that they had not been in the office for two days. Yes, that would be ridiculous, but no more so than claiming that staff the government had indicated should work from home can be dismissed for working from home.