New Minimum Wage Rates Applicable from 1 October 2022

On 26 August 2022, the Wage Committee, which is a tripartite body consisting of 9-15 representatives from government agencies, employers and employees, considered the proposal of the 2022 minimum wage rates in the 21st Wage Committee Meeting No. 8/2565. In this regard, consideration of the new minimum wage rates is based on equality and the opinions of all related parties by taking into account a variety of relevant factors (i.e. cost of living index, annual inflation rate, living standard of labour, production cost, price of goods and services, business capability, labour productivity growth rate, gross domestic product (GDP), economic and social conditions). Consequently. the Wage Committee has passed a resolution to increase the new minimum wage rates for all 77 provinces in Thailand at nine different rates, starting from Baht 328 up to 354 per day, as follows:

The above table of the 2022 minimum wage rates has an average rate of Baht 337 per day, which is an increase of 5.02 percent (approximately from Baht 8 to 22 per day), compared with the previous rates applicable since 2020. On 13 September 2022, the Cabinet Meeting agreed and approved the Notification of the Wage Committee on the Minimum Wage Rates (No. 11) as proposed at the Wage Committee Meeting, and the said Notification has been published in the Thai Royal Gazette on 19 September 2022; which shall come into force as of 1 October 2022 and shall repeal the Notification of the Wage Committee on the Minimum Wage Rates (No. 10). As of today, you can find a more detailed explanation (in Thai) at www.mol.go.th on the topic of “minimum wage rates” or download the original content of the latest notification, as per the link provided below.

It is important to note that, pursuant to Section 90 of the Labour Protection Act BE 2541 (1998), an employer shall be prohibited from paying the employee less than the minimum wage rates prescribed in the Notification of the Wage Committee; otherwise, the employer shall be penalised with imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding Baht 100,000, or both. In the case where an offender is a juristic person (e.g. company), if such wrongdoing is caused by an order or performance of any acts or neglects of order or neglect of a duty as required by a managing director or any persons responsible for carrying out the business of such juristic person, said person(s) will also be subject to the same liabilities as the juristic person.

The same minimum wage rates prescribed in the Notification of the Wage Committee apply to all employees regardless of nationality, gender or age. For legal purposes, it has been long interpreted by the labour court and labour authority that when applying “minimum wage rates per day”, a “day” consists of the normal working hours of an employee, but not exceeding eight hours for all types of work, and seven hours for work prescribed as hazardous; although employees may be assigned to work less than the said stipulated hours. This notion was firmly established in the Notification of the Wage Committee (No. 10) and should also be in full force for the minimum wage rates prescribed under the subsequent Notification of the Wage Committee. Should a normal working day exceed the stipulated number of hours, an overtime rate must be paid in accordance with relevant regulations.

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

Chanakarn Boonyasith
Partner

Pitchabsorn Whangruammit
Attorney-at-law

Pattaranun Hanwongpaiboon
Associate

Authors