Work permit: Changing jobs after breaking contract with first employer

[supermanbkk]

Hi guys,

I'm asking this question on behalf of my friend. He worked for around 8 months with his first company where he was made to sign a contract which says that 'if the employee leaves within one year of the employment he/she will have to pay the work permit and visa expenses incurred by the company'. Now he resigned from the first company got his work permit cancelled and joined another company which already got him a new work permit.

Now, when he resigned, the first company cited the one year contract and asked him pay for his work permit expenses. They showed him a bill of around 80,000 THB which they paid to their lawyer. To make them agree to accept his resignation(and pave the way for work permit transfer), he pledged his last month salary around 25,000 THB. Now they are asking him to pay back the remaining amount which is around 55,000 THB, failing which they are saying that they will report his case to the immigration(which would affect his current employment?)

The question is: Can they really report to immigration for breaking their contract? Is this really legal?

Thanks a lot!!

[supermanbkk]

More information:

This is the clause in the contract breached.

5.3. Work Permit. The company will provide the Employee with a work permit. Costs for translations and re-entry visas have to be paid by the employee. If the employee leaves the company within one year after the work permit has been provided, the employee agrees with his signature below to fully reimburse the costs for the work permit & visa process to the company.

[ubonjoe]

Immigration would do nothing if the they went to them. It is not their job to enforce employment contracts.

They would have to have to file a a lawsuit to get the money.

I am not even sure that is a legal clause in the contract. I don't think a court would accept it.

[robhur]

This is a labour dispute and immigration doesn't have jurisdiction.

Some suggestions:

A fee for applying for a working permit of THB 80k is very high. Normally THB 30K to 40k is to be expected

If your friend is earning thb 25 K per month than he is earning less than what is required for his WP. A potential counter claim to the previous company would be possible.

[supermanbkk]

Thanks ubonjoe and robhur.

They are threatening him that they would 'report the case to Immigration which will affect his legal status of working in Thailand'. We don't even understand how that is possible.

They just showed him receipts from the company lawyer whom they supposedly paid around 80K. Well, why didn't they consult a lawyer who would charge the company less? All these don't make any sense. But still he is worried whether they could do anything that could affect his current employment, for e.g. during work permit renewal/90 day notification.

Cheers!

[TerryLH]

"If your friend is earning thb 25 K per month than he is earning less than what is required for his WP. A potential counter claim to the previous company would be possible."

There is no minimum amount to get a work permit.

The minimum salaries are for getting extensions at immigration.

Without knowing the persons nationality, there is no way of knowing whether 25k is enough for an extension, or not.

[Soutpeel]

In this case the company is well within their rights to sue your friend via civil proceedings to recover the costs they have incurred due to his breach of contract, highly unlikely immigration will be interested, but as with a lot a things in Thailand if the people have connections within immigration or the police things "could happen" guess its a chance he has to take, forget about " is this legal" somewhat irrelevant in Thailand, the question is do people in the company have enough stroke to cause problems

[mike324]

Seems like your friend is not honoring the contract he/her signed. If your friend think 80k is too much, ask them to show receipt from immigration office for the cost of WP and etc to get the costs down.

Depending where your friend is from there is a minimum salary based on nationality.

If they are under reporting your friends salary, they are messing with their accounting books. So you can counter them with that reason. But if they have good relations with the immigration then they can try to screw you even though immigration has nothing to do with employment contracts, but its unlikely. If your friend signed a contract he should abide by it, the 1st company did nothing wrong. Your friend is failing to honor his/her contract.

Edited January 10, 2015 by mike324

[Ballbearing]

80K does seem a bit high but I was quoted 26K to convert a tourist visa into an O visa and I think a WP would be much more involved.

However, the issue is the fact that your friend has breached a contract that he willingly signed.

If he had a legitimate reason to leave the company and was intending to return to his own country it is possible the company may have look at it a bit differently.

But to jump ship and move to another company in Thailand (who may well be a competitor) would not go down well.

Edited January 10, 2015 by ubonjoe
Changed to default font

[Sawan Chan 7]

My work permit cost me 3000 baht - tell the old company where to go.

[Naroge]

Please note that the contract says "fully reimburse the costs for the work permit & visa process to the company", i.e. also cost for visa, not only WP. Lawyers normally charge for these two separately. The writing also implies that the company has the right to get reimbursed for all its internal costs to handle this whole "process". Asking to see receipts for the external costs is a starting point.

[anon022]

There's no way this all would have cost over 25,000 baht.

[supermanbkk]

Thanks for all the responses. He is in no way inclined to break the contract. It's a pretty small company. Actually the company itself is not known for good ethics towards its employees. Hence the doubt - is this expense for real or just try to scare and get the money from him? If the amount is really true, then he is willing to pay the money. But the copy of the receipts they showed are supposedly what the legal agency charged from them. Isn't it up to them to deal with the third party costs and leave the employee to pay the costs charged by immigration/labor department?

[Naroge]

....................

Isn't it up to them to deal with the third party costs and leave the employee to pay the costs charged by immigration/labor department?

No it isn't because the employment contract says: "the employee agrees with his signature below to fully reimburse the costs for the work permit & visa process to the company."

It doesn't matter if he thinks this is "fair" or not, the fact is that he has signed a contract with this wording.

[Naroge]

Thanks for all the responses. He is in no way inclined to break the contract. It's a pretty small company. Actually the company itself is not known for good ethics towards its employees. Hence the doubt - is this expense for real or just try to scare and get the money from him? If the amount is really true, then he is willing to pay the money. But the copy of the receipts they showed are supposedly what the legal agency charged from them. Isn't it up to them to deal with the third party costs and leave the employee to pay the costs charged by immigration/labor department?

The cost of service for WP and Visa does of course varies between legal firms. My experience is that such services from a 1st class firm would cost around 25,000 Baht each for WP and visa, plus actual government fees. Then your friend's company has the right to charge their own internal costs, but those should be minimal as they have subcontracted the work to the legal firm.