Dear Members and Friends of the Chamber,
The Chamber has received inquiries from our members of which most of them are employers with at least four staff in their company. The inquiries concerns the relationship between employer and employee during the highly unusual circumstances created in the effort to slow down the spread of the Corona-19 virus. In addition we have attached a letter for our members from the Chairman of the Board of Trade on safety guidelines here.
As an employer you are expected to deploy certain safety measures in the present COVID-19 scenario in Thailand. All of these target the health and safety of the employees and should minimize the risk of spreading the decease further.
These comprises among other measures the following:
- Working from home
- Requesting an employee to take leave
- Keeping the office/working environment clean and safe
It is advised by the government that, if possible, employers should allow their employees to work from home in order to ensure safety of employees. If an employee is requested to work from home, he/she is still entitled to receive full pay. Employers can also request that employees take statutory leave, however as mentioned before, this may not be well received by an employee especially during the circumstances where the Thai government recommends people from travelling home and even has cancelled the Songkran holidays.
Finally, an employer can request an employee to take unpaid leave, however, an employee’s consent is required to do so. Some employers have requested that employees work from home in order to ensure employee safety in accordance with regulation.
More information can be found on the websites of our members dealing with laws and regulations such as Tilleke & Gibbins, Baker Mackenzie, Law Plus, KSS and Lorenz & Partners just to mention a few.
Kind regards,
Michael Andersen
Executive Director for DTCC