Working From Home/Remotely and Flexible Working Hours from a Labour Law Perspective

Ever since the outbreak of the Global pandemic, most companies in Thailand have adopted a work-from-home policy as one of the preventive measures for COVID-19. Some companies may take this a step further and ask employees to work from home/remotely permanently after noticing various benefits of said arrangement, such as increased productivity, less commuting time and an improved work-life balance. Inevitably, this will lead to the question of whether there are any legal requirements under Thai labour law governing this issue.

The trend toward working from home or remotely working is still new in Thailand; consequently, the current Thai labour law does not directly address the issue regarding protection of an employee’s rights or an employer’s duties and responsibilities. Thai labour law is designed based on the notion that an employee in general is required to work at an office or place set up by an employer. For example, while there is a common understanding that work-related expenses and equipment when an employee works at office, such as computer, electricity and internet, should be paid for or provided by the employer; the law does not stipulate such details in the case where the employee is required to work from home/remotely. Therefore, currently, the employer is not legally required to pay any additional allowances or payments to an employee when requesting or allowing him/her to work from home/remotely. Due to this growing trend, it is likely in the future that the Government would consider adopting new laws or amending existing laws thus to ensure that the employee’s rights and benefits will be protected.

In addition to allowing an employee to work from home or remotely, flexible working hours are sometimes introduced; in an arrangement where the employer does not fix the start and end times of working days, unlike the traditional working hours (e.g. 8:30 am - 5:30 pm or 9:00 am - 6:00 pm). However, Section 23 of the Labour Protection Act BE 2541 (1998) (the “LPA”) provides in essence that an employer shall inform an employee of his/her normal working period by specifying the start and end times for each working day, which shall not exceed the amount of time prescribed for each category of work under the Ministerial Regulations; provided that it shall not exceed 8 hours per day (except where the work may be harmful to the health and safety of the employee as prescribed under the Ministerial Regulations, in which case the normal working period shall not exceed 7 hours per day). Said Section 23 further stipulates that if the employer cannot specify the start and end times for a working day due to the nature or condition of the work, the employer and the employee shall agree to fix the number of working hours for each day so as not to exceed 8 hours, and the total number of working hours in one week not to exceed 48 hours (not exceeding 6 days working per week). In light of this, it should be safe to implement flexible working hours in line with Section 23 of the LPA, i.e. not exceeding 8 working hours per day.    

Should the employer consider implementing working from home/remotely or flexible working hours, there are other issues that need to be taken into consideration, such as how to manage overtime work and holiday work; whether it is recommended to pay working-from-home allowances to the employee; whether the employer can prevent the employee from working in another location other than his/her home; or whether the employer should put in place any particular rules or policies governing working from home/remotely or for flexible working hours. These issues should be treated with the utmost care due to the fact that the current labour laws and regulations, as well as interpretations of the court and/or competent authorities, are still silent on the said issues.

This Newsletter is intended merely to provide a regulatory overview and is not intended to be comprehensive; it is NOT a provision of legal advice. Should you have any questions on this or on any other areas of law, please do not hesitate to contact the following:

Chanakarn Boonyasith
Partner

Pitchabsorn Whangruammit
Attorney-at-Law