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Severance Pay in Thailand.
The statutory severance schedule in Thailand, from 30 days to 400 days of wages, when severance is not owed, and what a lawyer does if it goes unpaid.
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Key facts
- How much severance am I entitled to?
- It depends on length of service: 30 days of wages from 120 days of service, then 90, 180, 240 and 300 days at the one, three, six and ten year marks, up to 400 days at twenty years or more. These are legal minimums, not caps.
- Can an employer refuse to pay severance?
- Only on the grounds in Section 119, such as dishonesty, an intentional criminal offence against the employer, wilful or seriously negligent damage, or breach of work rules after a written warning. Whether the stated ground fits the facts is contestable.
- What if the employer just does not pay?
- Unpaid severance carries interest at fifteen percent a year, and intentional non-payment without reasonable cause adds a further fifteen percent of the amount due every seven days after the first seven.
- Is redundancy treated differently?
- Yes. Termination from reorganisation or new machinery requires sixty days notice to the Labour Inspector and the employees, and adds special severance of at least 15 days wages per year of service for employees with more than six years.
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Severance in Thailand is a statutory minimum, not a negotiation
When an employer terminates an employee in Thailand, the Labour Protection Act fixes a minimum severance payment based on how long that person worked. It is not discretionary and it does not depend on what the employment contract says, because the Act sets a floor that a contract cannot go below.
The schedule runs in six steps, from 30 days of wages for someone with at least 120 days of service up to 400 days for twenty years or more. That top tier is newer than most published summaries: it was added by the Labour Protection Act (No. 7) B.E. 2562 in 2019, along with the amended 300-day band, so any figure list that stops at 300 days is out of date.
Severance is separate from notice. Terminating without the required advance notice creates its own payment in lieu, so a properly handled exit usually involves both.
Statutory severance pay by length of service
Minimum severance under Section 118 of the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541, as amended by Act (No. 7) B.E. 2562. Figures are days of the employee's last wage rate and are a legal minimum, not a cap.
| Uninterrupted service | Minimum severance |
|---|---|
| 120 days but less than 1 year | 30 days of wages |
| 1 year but less than 3 years | 90 days of wages |
| 3 years but less than 6 years | 180 days of wages |
| 6 years but less than 10 years | 240 days of wages |
| 10 years but less than 20 years | 300 days of wages |
| 20 years or more | 400 days of wages |
- 120 days but less than 1 year
- 30 days of wages
- 1 year but less than 3 years
- 90 days of wages
- 3 years but less than 6 years
- 180 days of wages
- 6 years but less than 10 years
- 240 days of wages
- 10 years but less than 20 years
- 300 days of wages
- 20 years or more
- 400 days of wages
Checked August 2026
Warning: When no severance is owed
Section 119 lists the grounds that remove the entitlement entirely: dishonesty in duties or an intentional criminal offence against the employer, wilfully causing damage, negligence causing serious damage, and breaching lawful work rules after a written warning, with serious cases needing no warning. Employers sometimes assert one of these to avoid paying, and employees sometimes assume any dismissal is covered. Whether the stated ground actually fits the facts is the question a lawyer tests.
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Contact experts who handle severance pay in Thailand
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GPS Legal
Consultation from ฿3,125 · 30 min
Law firmBangkokEnglish · Thai · Swedish
Bangkok-based law firm delivering strategic, business-focused legal advice with deep local expertise and a practical, solutions-oriented approach.
฿3,500–15,000 / hour
Restructuring pays more, and late payment costs the employer
Where the termination comes from reorganising the business or introducing machinery or technology that cuts headcount, the Act adds obligations. The employer must notify the Labour Inspector and the affected employees at least sixty days in advance, and where such an employee has more than six years of service, special severance of at least 15 days' wages for each year of employment is payable on top of ordinary severance.
Unpaid severance is not a soft debt either. The Act charges interest at fifteen percent a year on what is owed, and where an employer intentionally withholds payment without reasonable cause, a further fifteen percent of the outstanding amount accrues every seven days after the first seven days. That escalation is usually the strongest point in a negotiation.
The practical path when severance goes unpaid starts with the calculation, then a demand, then a complaint to the labour inspector or a claim in the labour court. Where the dismissal itself is contested rather than just the payment, that becomes a wrongful termination matter and the two usually run together.
What a lawyer adds
Most of the value is in the arithmetic and the characterisation. The number of days is fixed by the schedule, but what counts as the last wage rate, whether allowances and commissions form part of wages, and whether service was genuinely uninterrupted are all places where the sum moves. So is whether a fixed-term arrangement really meets the narrow definition that removes the entitlement, which requires a specific project outside the employer's normal trade with a definite start and end.
For employers, the same review runs in reverse before a termination rather than after it. Getting the ground, the notice, and the calculation right at the outset is considerably cheaper than defending the decision later, and the sixty-day restructuring notice in particular cannot be fixed retrospectively. Firms handling this work sit under employment and labor law.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules and figures change, and every termination turns on its own facts; for a specific situation, speak with a qualified professional.
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Law firmBangkokEnglish · Thai · German
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GPS Legal
Consultation from ฿3,125 · 30 min
Law firmBangkokEnglish · Thai · Swedish
Bangkok-based law firm delivering strategic, business-focused legal advice with deep local expertise and a practical, solutions-oriented approach.
฿3,500–15,000 / hour
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Common questions
Frequently asked questions
- How is severance pay calculated in Thailand?
- By length of uninterrupted service against the schedule in Section 118 of the Labour Protection Act: 30 days of wages for at least 120 days of service, 90 days from one year, 180 days from three years, 240 days from six years, 300 days from ten years, and 400 days from twenty years. The figures are minimums based on the employee's last wage rate, so a contract or settlement can exceed them but cannot go below.
- Does everyone get severance when they are terminated?
- No. Section 119 removes the entitlement where the employee was dishonest in their duties or intentionally committed a criminal offence against the employer, wilfully caused damage, was negligent causing serious damage, or breached lawful work rules after a written warning, with serious cases requiring no warning. Severance also does not apply to genuine fixed-term employment for a specific project outside the employer's normal trade that ends on its agreed date, which is a narrower category than employers often assume.
- Is severance the same as notice pay?
- No, they are separate obligations and both can be owed on the same termination. Where the contract sets no period, either side ends it by written notice given at or before a wage due date to take effect on the next one, and the Act requires no more than three months notice in any case. If an employer terminates without giving that notice, the Act requires it to pay the employee an amount equal to the wages the employee would have received up to the date the notice would have taken effect, on top of statutory severance.
- What happens if my employer does not pay my severance?
- The amount starts accruing interest at fifteen percent a year, and if the employer intentionally withholds it without reasonable cause an extra fifteen percent of the outstanding sum is added every seven days after the first seven days. The usual route is a calculated demand, then a complaint to the labour inspector or a claim in the Labour Court. A lawyer can confirm the correct figure first, because disputes often turn on what counts as wages rather than on the schedule itself.
- Do foreign employees get statutory severance in Thailand?
- The Labour Protection Act sets out its own exclusions, and they are by employer category rather than nationality: the Act does not apply to central, provincial and local administration or to state enterprises. A foreign employee working in Thailand under an ordinary employment relationship can therefore generally expect the same statutory minimums. Complications tend to come from the structure of the arrangement, such as being engaged through an overseas entity or as a contractor rather than an employee, which is the point a lawyer examines before a claim is filed.
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Law firmBangkokEnglish · Thai · German
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GPS Legal
Consultation from ฿3,125 · 30 min
Law firmBangkokEnglish · Thai · Swedish
Bangkok-based law firm delivering strategic, business-focused legal advice with deep local expertise and a practical, solutions-oriented approach.
฿3,500–15,000 / hour
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