DISPATCHED WORKERS: LABOR LAW AND RECENT COURT DECISIONS (Thailand)

Background
The concept of dispatched workers has been introduced in Thailand in 2008 by Section 11/1 of Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541 (1998) (“LPA”). The purpose of this section (reproduced below) is to protect the dispatched workers (“Dispatched Workers”) mainly from being discriminated by the business operator to which they have been dispatched to work for (“Entrepreneur”).

According to LPA Section 11/1, the workers who meet the following criteria shall be protected under this anti-discrimination clause:

(i) The worker who is dispatched by their employer (“Original Employer”) to Entrepreneur for the purpose of ‘supply of labor’ and not for ‘supply of goods and/or service’, provided that the Original Employer is not in the headhunting business;
(ii) The worker still remains as the employee of the Original Employer at all times while working for the Entrepreneur regardless of whether the Original Employer is the supervisor or pays the wages to the Dispatched Workers; and
(iii) The work done by the Dispatched Worker is part of the manufacturing process or the business operation which is under the Entrepreneur’s responsibility.

The scope and application of LPA Section 11/1 had been unclear, leading to several disputes; however with court rulings in recent years, some clarity has been introduced as to who would fall within the ambit of ‘Dispatched Worker’ and rights of such Dispatched Workers.

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