Fired? Did U Get Severance Or Cheated Out Of It?

[chivo]

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

[Soutpeel]

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

I would go back and re-word your question, if you get fired in accordance with procedures set out by the dept of labour ie warnings etc, and have committed certain "offenses" and get fired for those "offenses" you dont get any serverance.

[CWMcMurray]

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

I would go back and re-word your question, if you get fired in accordance with procedures set out by the dept of labour ie warnings etc, and have committed certain "offenses" and get fired for those "offenses" you dont get any serverance.

It is still an interesting question... we have seen posts by many folks who were denied the compensation laid out by the Thai Labor department regulations.

Many times you only hear about something if there has been a problem, I would also be interested in hearing if anyone has received the severence package without any problems from employers.

If no one has ever received their severence package without a fight, that would be good to know...

[sbk]

Actually, one of the mods, Donna, received her severance pay after fighting for it. You should read her post, it might give you the answers you are looking for

I Took My Old Employer To Court, and won

[CWMcMurray]

I read this tread it was quite interesting and provides a lot of good advice for someone who was not treated fairly when dismissed from their job.

I would be courious to know if anyone has just a received their severence as a matterof fact, with no need to fight for it.

Has anyone ever been in the situation where they have been dismissed in a manner that should require a severence payment and the company in question just gives them the severence due...

"Here you go Bob, thanks for the 5 years have a nice life..." that sort of thing

[AlexLah]

It all depends on the circumstances.

This link might be helpfull: http://www.ethailand.com/index.php?thai_labor_law

In any case, never sign a termination of employment document before asking advice from some legal institute.

[Carib]

I am sure it wil be covered in the links alex provided ( didnot look) If not this may help.

The Labour Protection Act (1998) http://www.bia.co.th/013.html

[Gary A]

A farang friend of mine was fired after ten years of employment with a Thai company. The hardest part was going home and telling his Thai wife. She quizzed him about the details and then called his former employer. The former employer offered no severance pay. My friend's wife had already talked to a lawyer and reminded the former employer that severance had to be paid. She suggested that the former employer talk with his lawyer before making up his mind. My friend got nearly a million baht severance without taking any legal action.

[tb86]

easy solution just neotiate a severance package with your employers BEFORE signing your contract,

[Moonfruit]

If you are 'fired' that, to me would mean 'Gross Negligence of duty'. If this is the reason for termination there is no need for any severance package.

If the termination is pretty much any other reason then severance is required.

[kiwikoppy]

i am currently in a battle with my employer. He is not willing to pay due to bad economy.

After going to a lawyer he now claims that i walked out at the end of the month and never came back.

probably going to be a long case but i know my rights and i will get my payment.

[Soutpeel]

i am currently in a battle with my employer. He is not willing to pay due to bad economy.

After going to a lawyer he now claims that i walked out at the end of the month and never came back.

probably going to be a long case but i know my rights and i will get my payment.

Or at least your lawyer will get your payment..

[kiwikoppy]

""Or at least your lawyer will get your payment.. ""

thats true. However i dont think my lawyer will that easily cost me the ammount i have a right too. But lets see. Anyway if i dont get my money i will get my revenge somewhere. Its always nice to have had a boss discussing all details of the company with me.

[HJK]

i am currently in a battle with my employer. He is not willing to pay due to bad economy.

After going to a lawyer he now claims that i walked out at the end of the month and never came back.

probably going to be a long case but i know my rights and i will get my payment.

Or at least your lawyer will get your payment..

I am also at the starting point of a dismissal dispute with my former company. I was made redundant from my job in Bangkok by a multi national company with branches worldwide (including Thailand and Singapore) I was recruited out of the Singapore office to work in Bangkok on a few projects and other colleagues were recruited from the Thailand office. Several people were made redundant recently and the employees hired by the Thailand office received proper and correct severance packages and those hired outside of thailand got paid based on the recruiting countries laws I ended up with nothing except a months notice and they let me go on the day I was returning to work after 3 weeks leave - It sure would have been nice to have those three weeks in cash.

Through my research on the net and in this forum and from what my lawyer tells me clearly I should have been paid a severance of 3 months as I worked here for 2 and a half years. My case is further complicated by my salary being split. I was paid a portion of my salary in Thai baht in Thailand in order to qualify for a work permit, the remainder was paid tax free offshore.

My lawyer is lodging a claim for unfair dismissal and is looking for and expecting a damages settlement of at least 1 years salary and up to 3 years on top of severance due.

I believe I have a strong case for unfair dismissal particularly as i was hired almost immediately by a partner company. I now work on the exact same project doing pretty much the same job but for another company and for a lot less money.

My big concern is taxes - for 2 and half years I paid very little tax in Thailand. It ended up at being probably less than 5 per cent over all when i should have been paying 30 per cent or thereabouts. If I win this case and receive a compensation payment I am worried that the Inland revenue dept will be waiting to take it all away from me.

has anyone heard of a split income case ? If so ,did the recipient get stung for back taxes? Are settlements taxable? If so how does the IRD find out you have just won a settlement?

[TerryLH]

OP

Did the project you were working on end (for that employer)?

If so, you might not be due anything.

HJK

I think anything over the 3 months is a pipedream.

I believe the courts here will give you your due, and no more. At least not 15 times what might be due.

Tell your lawyer that you'll take 100% of the first 3 months severance, and then his commission (%) will be deducted from the rest. His attitude to that might give you a clue to what could happen.

Good luck to both of you.

[HJK]

OP

Did the project you were working on end (for that employer)?

If so, you might not be due anything.

HJK

I think anything over the 3 months is a pipedream.

I believe the courts here will give you your due, and no more. At least not 15 times what might be due.

Tell your lawyer that you'll take 100% of the first 3 months severance, and then his commission (%) will be deducted from the rest. His attitude to that might give you a clue to what could happen.

Good luck to both of you.

The project is still ongoing and my old employer is still fully involved and will be for another 2 years I would think. I am attending meetings with former co workers and will end up actually working on tasks with my old team mates doing exactly as if I still worked with the old company.

I think you are probably right that getting anything more than what I was due in severance may be a pipe dream but I will see it through anyway and see what eventuates. I read somewhere that if a judge does find a company guilty of wrongfully dismissing an employee typically they will order compensation of 1 or 2 years equivalent salary on top of severance pay due.The big If is proving unfair dismissal I guess but I have seen a few cases on the net of Thais who had won cases and been awarded significant damages and I really believe I was unfairly dismissed,there was no reason to let me go, I was busy I was well respected on the project, I was given no reason why I was one of the ones picked to be laid off and I believe that a few of the others who were laid off may well have been tempted to claim unfair dismissal if it wasnt for the fat severance plus bonus packages they received.

[SgtAngel]

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

Will let you know on May 19th! The company I worked for has been taken over by a multi-mational! As of yet, no trasfer of contract and nothing in the wind!!! Anyone got a job for me?????

[Mario2008]

There is also an informative thread on this in the teachers forum.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Labor-L...ay-t239894.html

[kiwikoppy]

@HJK

I am afraid you might be in trouble with the split salary. Any salary paid for work done in Thailand, wether you receive it or not is due to be taxated by the Thai law. So i presume that if you file your claim for your full salary, you will, if it is all send over to the revenue department, have a big tax claim on your head.

I am not sure about this, but check it before you pursuit.

Ans about the unfair dismissal, you might be able to win that, as they did not have any reason to fire you, however if they can prove that your old position has not been filled, and so on your job position was not needed anymore. (someone else with a different position is doing it now) then you will probably loose that one. It all depends on the judge.

I would say go for it, try to go as much out of it as possible, but please check the part about split salary because i am positive, that money received overseas is also due Thai taxes.

[HJK]

sgtangel,

I know several people who were fired who received severance without asking. They also received an additional 1 or 2 bonus months pay but they had to sign a document promising not to bring a lawsuit against the company for Unjust dismissal. These were all local hires a mixture of locals and farangs. In my case I was hired out of singapore and then seconded to thailand . When i was laid off by the same company I got nothing even though my lawyer says I am entitled.

KiwiCoppy

thanks for your reply. It was not my choice to not pay full tax, This was presented to me as part of a secondment contract by my employer. As far as I knew this was all legal and above board, perhaps I have a case to say the employer is responsible to pay any back taxes. If i do manage to win this case I would seriously doubt that anyone in the labour court would inform the revenue department but perhaps my former employer might. The aim is to get any settlement paid off shore so hopefully it will be a blood from stone situation as far as the inland revenue goes.

[Soutpeel]

It was not my choice to not pay full tax, This was presented to me as part of a secondment contract by my employer. As far as I knew this was all legal and above board, perhaps I have a case to say the employer is responsible to pay any back taxes.

Be careful with that statement, even though it was part of your contract, you are responsible for the payment of tax, the company has no liability in this regard. Would the labour court inform the tax department?, highly unlikely but you have to be careful, as somebody has already pointed out "double contracts" in Thailand are technically illegal. Therefore you could sue for payment only based on your "on the book" salary in Thailand, ie for the purposes of the work permit your may be on the books in Thailand for somewhere around THB 50,000 to 60,000 and have been paying tax only on this amount, all other payments outside the country "dont exist" in the system

"My lawyer is lodging a claim for unfair dismissal and is looking for and expecting a damages settlement of at least 1 years salary and up to 3 years on top of severance due"

As regards your claim, think its a bit pie in the sky, Re damages and 3 years severance, you have only worked in this position for 2.5 years ?? the best you could hope for is 3 months severance based on your "Thai salary"

[nisha0901]

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

i was working here with an MNC and didnt know that expats were also supposed to get severance pay as per thai labour law.My thai frd found it out from the social security office and later i fought out for it for 3mths .I also claimed money for 6mths from the social security office .I see them every end of the month and they transfer some money to my accounts before the 7th of every month

[HJK]

It was not my choice to not pay full tax, This was presented to me as part of a secondment contract by my employer. As far as I knew this was all legal and above board, perhaps I have a case to say the employer is responsible to pay any back taxes.

Be careful with that statement, even though it was part of your contract, you are responsible for the payment of tax, the company has no liability in this regard. Would the labour court inform the tax department?, highly unlikely but you have to be careful, as somebody has already pointed out "double contracts" in Thailand are technically illegal. Therefore you could sue for payment only based on your "on the book" salary in Thailand, ie for the purposes of the work permit your may be on the books in Thailand for somewhere around THB 50,000 to 60,000 and have been paying tax only on this amount, all other payments outside the country "dont exist" in the system

"My lawyer is lodging a claim for unfair dismissal and is looking for and expecting a damages settlement of at least 1 years salary and up to 3 years on top of severance due"

As regards your claim, think its a bit pie in the sky, Re damages and 3 years severance, you have only worked in this position for 2.5 years ?? the best you could hope for is 3 months severance based on your "Thai salary"

Yes it seems highly unlikely doesnt it, based on 2.5 years work getting paid 3 years damages , doesnt make any sense really. The lawyer puts it this way in the claim -The company fired me for no wrongdoing on my part a,paid no severance or damages to me whatsoever ,and they lured me away from my home country and I gave up other opportunities to work for them and I could have expected to work another 10 years with the company but we are only asking for 3 years in compensation, thats kind of how the claim is written.

In my heart I do believe that it is pie in the sky to expect any damages to be paid but the lawyer is so confident about it so i do have some hope. I think I would be happy just to get severance pay, anything else would definitely be a bonus.

As for the tax issue I guess that isnt worth worrying about until and if I win anything

cheers for your input.

[HJK]

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

i was working here with an MNC and didnt know that expats were also supposed to get severance pay as per thai labour law.My thai frd found it out from the social security office and later i fought out for it for 3mths .I also claimed money for 6mths from the social security office .I see them every end of the month and they transfer some money to my accounts before the 7th of every month

Nisha,

Did you get your severance paid? Did you have to go to court ? Are the social welfare payments for unemployment? I knew about the payments that Thais get from social welfare but if you are a Farang and don't have a job here then normally you would lose your visa and have to leave the country - wouldn't you? would make it hard to collect social security.

[Soutpeel]

I knew about the payments that Thais get from social welfare but if you are a Farang and don't have a job here then normally you would lose your visa and have to leave the country - wouldn't you? would make it hard to collect social security.

Give the man a coconut... ....unless of course you are a PR or on an O visa by viture of being married to a Thai national, then you could live here and claim social