The Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541 (1998) has been amended by the Labour Protection Act (No. 6) B.E. 2560 (2017). The amendment was published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 31 August 2017 and came into force on 1 September 2017.

The main amendments are:

1. In fixing the minimum wages, the Wage Committee must take into account the wages that the employees were already receiving and for the purpose of promoting employment, the Committee may fix minimum wage rates for a particular type of business or for all businesses different from those previously prescribed for those businesses or to fix in the minimum wages for any specific locality.

Based on the above, students, trainees, the elderly or handicapped persons may be subject to different minimum wage rates.

2. The provisions of Section 108 of the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541(1998) was repealed by the Order of the Leader of the National Council for Peace and Order No. 21/2560, Re: Amendment of Laws to Facilitate Business Operations, dated 4th April 2017. The amendment did away with the requirement to file work rules with the Labour Protection Office.

3. The provision of Section 118 of the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541(1998) was amended by Section 118/1 to the effect that a retirement agreed upon between the employer and the employee or as prescribed by the employer shall be regarded as a termination of employment; as such, the employee shall be entitled to severance pay.

In the absence of any agreement on retirement, once the employee has reached the age of sixty years old upwards, he/she shall have a right to declare his/her intention to retire, by notifying the employer. The declaration of intention to retire shall become effective after 30 days from the date it is made. In such event, the employer shall make severance pay to the retiring employee as stated in Section 118.

4. A violation of Section 118/1 shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or fine not exceeding Baht 100,000.- (One hundred thousand), or both.