Labour Law – Issuing a Warning Letter

Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, Legal, Labour Law

07 July 2014

By issuing the letter, the employer may not be liable to pay severance when terminating employment. However, a warning letter is only enforceable in this respect for a maximum of one year from the date on which the employee committed the offence.

Although the Labour Protection Act does not prescribe the format of the warning letter, many warning letters do not comply with Labour Law and therefore the company is unable to refer to those disciplinary actions when terminating the employment. In such cases the company has to follow the Labour Protection Act and would be liable for severance payment.

According to a number of Supreme Court judgements, the warning letter must include the following:

1. A description of the nature of the employee’s disciplinary action which was considered as in breach of the company’s work rules and regulations; and

2. Clearly state that if the employee repeats the same disciplinary action again, the employment will be terminated without severance pay and advance notice.

The company may ask the employee to sign to acknowledge the warning letter. However, the employee is not obliged to sign and may refuse to acknowledge the letter. There are other alternatives, for example, the company may announce the warning on the company’s notice board or read the letter to the employee in front of two witnesses. The witnesses can sign the letter to confirm that the company has read it to the employee and that the employee refused to sign.