Probation and notice periods in Thailand
Thai notice is not 30 days. It runs from one wage payment date to the next. This plans both clocks that matter on an exit: notice under section 17, and the 120-day severance threshold under section 118.
Plan the dates
Enter the engagement and the proposed exit. The planner reports both clocks as facts about that date pair.
The first day worked — not the date probation is said to start or end.
The day the employee actually stops work.
Section 17 requires notice in writing. Leave blank if none has been given yet.
Your actual payroll date. This is what drives the notice calculation.
The last wage rate. Severance is measured on it, with no averaging or look-back.
A monthly wage must be converted to a daily rate; a daily wage does not.
Ending employment before 120 days does not remove the notice obligation, and it does not prevent an unfair-dismissal claim under section 49 of the Labour Court Act, which the court decides on its own criteria even where every statutory payment has been made correctly. Separate statutory bars apply whatever the length of service: section 43 prohibits dismissing an employee because she is pregnant, and the Labour Relations Act protects employee-committee members and employees involved in a live demand or collective agreement.
Why you will see “119 days” in Thai employment contracts
The Labour Protection Act sets no maximum probation period and gives probationary employees no reduced rights. What it does set is a threshold for severance: under section 118, severance becomes payable once an employee has completed 120 days of continuous work. Below that the Act provides no severance and no pro-rated amount.
119 is not a legal category. It has no status in the Act and no connection to how long it takes to assess someone’s suitability for a job. It is 120 minus one. The Department of Labour Protection and Welfare records that the pre-1993 regime allowing probation of up to 180 days without severance was repealed in B.E. 2536, and that current law recognises no separate class of probationary employee.
The threshold changes less than employers expect. A probation contract is deemed by section 17 to be an indefinite-term contract, so terminating a probationer at any point — day 40 or day 400 — requires written advance notice tied to your wage payment dates, or payment in lieu on the day the person leaves.
The clock runs from the first day of employment, not from any date probation is said to begin or end. Section 19 requires holidays, all statutory leave, days off you permit for the employee’s benefit and days off you order for your own benefit to be counted in. Section 20 counts interrupted periods of employment together where the interruption was intended to deny the employee a right under the Act.
How Thai notice periods actually work
Notice is not a fixed number of days. Section 17 ties it to your wage payment dates: written notice given at or before one payment date takes effect at the next one. On a month-end payroll that means a minimum of one full cycle and a maximum of two months — and one day’s delay in serving the notice can add a whole month.
| Written notice given (month-end payroll) | Earliest lawful effect |
|---|---|
| 10 March | 30 April |
| 31 March, on the payment date | 30 April |
| 1 April, the day after | 31 May |
Where the employer releases the employee before that date, section 17/1 requires payment in lieu for the remaining days, due on the day the employee is put out of work rather than with the final payroll run. In a Supreme Court decision published by the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare as Dika 4105/2561, a 30th-of-the-month payroll produced 51 days’ pay in lieu — not one month.
Severance bands — section 118
| Completed continuous service | Severance |
|---|---|
| Less than 120 days | None |
| 120 days to under 1 year | 30 days |
| 1 year to under 3 years | 90 days |
| 3 years to under 6 years | 180 days |
| 6 years to under 10 years | 240 days |
| 10 years to under 20 years | 300 days |
| 20 years or more | 400 days |
Days of the last wage rate. Each threshold is a completed-service test and each figure is a floor, not a ceiling. There is no proration inside a band and nothing between zero and 30 days. The 400-day band was added by Act No. 7 B.E. 2562 and applies to any termination after it came into force, whatever the hire date.
This planner stops at notice and severance. A full exit also carries unused annual leave and outstanding wages — and those fall due on a different day.
Build the full settlementWhat this planner does not decide
- Whether allowances, bonuses or service charges form part of the wage base. No government instrument states a general rule; it is decided element by element against the definition in section 5.
- The amount of any unfair-dismissal award under section 49 of the Labour Court Act. The court fixes it on five statutory factors with no formula and no cap, so we do not print a range.
- Personal income tax on severance. Part may be exempt under Ministerial Regulation No. 126, but the exemption does not apply to severance received on retirement or on expiry of a fixed-term contract. Confirm the current cap with the Revenue Department.
- Whether a particular dismissal is lawful at all. This tool performs date arithmetic from the statute. It does not assess grounds, work rules, or the facts of a case.
Statutory cost of this exit
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Enter a first day of employment and a proposed last working day to see the notice and severance position for that date pair.
Talk to our HR teamWhat an employee costsTwo different deadlines apply. Payment in lieu of notice falls due on the day the employee is put out of work. Wages and other money owed under the Act fall due within three days of termination. One consolidated payment run three days later already misses the first.
Frequently asked questions
No. The Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541 sets no maximum probation period and gives probationary employees no reduced rights. Section 17 deems a probation contract to be an indefinite-term contract, so the ordinary written-notice rules apply from the first day of employment.
Only if they have completed 120 days of continuous work. Section 118 makes severance payable at 120 completed days and provides nothing below that — there is no pro-rated amount. Failing probation is not one of the grounds in section 119 that allow severance to be withheld, so an employee past the threshold is entitled to it.
Not a fixed number of days. Under section 17, written notice given at or before one wage payment date takes effect at the next payment date. On a month-end payroll that is between one and two full months, depending on when the notice is served. The employer may instead pay wages in lieu for that period, due on the day the employee is put out of work.
Because severance becomes payable at 120 completed days under section 118. 119 is not a legal category and has no status in the Act. Ending employment before day 120 does not remove the notice obligation under section 17, and it does not prevent an unfair-dismissal claim under section 49 of the Labour Court Act.
Two deadlines apply. Payment in lieu of notice is due on the day the employee is put out of work under section 17/1. Wages and other money the employer must pay under the Act are due within three days of termination under section 70. Late payment attracts interest at 15 per cent a year under section 9.
Not more than one year, running from the date the employee committed the offence rather than the date the warning was issued. Section 119(4) allows dismissal without severance where an employee violates lawful and fair work rules after a written warning. In a serious case no warning is required, but the Act does not define what counts as serious.
Sources
- Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541, consolidated text — Department of Labour Protection and Welfare
- Act Amending the Labour Protection Act (No. 7) B.E. 2562 — Royal Gazette text
- Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541, Thai–English edition — Department of Labour Protection and Welfare
This tool sets out provisions of Thai statute and official guidance and performs date arithmetic from them. It is not legal advice, does not create a lawyer–client relationship, and does not account for your employment contract, work rules, collective agreement, or the facts of any individual case. Several points are marked above as not resolvable from Thai government sources. Take advice from a licensed Thai lawyer before acting on any termination.
Get the dates right before the letter goes out
Most of the cost in a Thai exit is decided by the calendar — when notice is served, when the person actually leaves, and which payment falls due on which day. Our HR team runs these dates with you, drafts the documentation, and handles the payroll and immigration steps that follow.