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A Legal Blow For A Farang


geronimo

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I haven't been on the forum for a year or so but anyway, I have a story that all teachers should know about. I worked for a Thai Private school for 6 years and suddenly, due to internal politics, the Principal of 33 years was fired for no apparent reason. A week later, I too was fired for no reason. Upon the advice of a lawyer I went to the local employment office and reported this. I didn't hold out much hope of getting anything as I did not have a work permit while employed at this school. Anyway they took a statement from me and after a few weeks they contacted me and said they had been to the school in question and they now think I have a case. After a few more weeks I received documantation from the office stating that they had ordered the school to pay me 8 months salary as compensation within 15 days or face prosecution. The school appealed and after 9 court appearances and one year, I received a cheque for 304,000 baht. Even though I had no work permit, the fact that I had a contract of employment meant that according to Thai law, I was legally employed. The judge went on to scold the school for not supplying me with a work permit. The school tried to appeal yet again but the judge threw it out saying it was a waste of court time. The icing on the cake was that the employment office sued the school for another 200,000 baht for wasting their time.

So ...... to any teachers who have been unfairly dismissed, don't think that there is no way to fight this. All of this never cost me a single baht (although I paiid a fortune in taxi fares to and from court)

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excellent news.

b.t.w. how much did you have to slip the judge ? :o

Nothing actually and here's the strange part ... when it was all over I went to see the guy who worked at the employment office who had dealt with it all and I offered him a pink enevelope which he politely refused saying that assisting me was reward enough for him!!!!!! WTG

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Wonderful story, Geronimo. I hope you've encountered no dificulties finding a new job, getting a work permit, renewing visa, etc., in the meantime.

No, I now work at an International school (with a WP)

I posted this story on ajarn.com and they asked me to name the school which I did

wonder if I ought to do that here too?

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Wow, Fair Play! Was the "Stage" set in Bkk? And no fine for you working in Thailand without a workpermit? Businessvisa?

Anybody knows about compensation after long term (10 years) employment?

Edited by Samuian
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Probably not, but they might sue this website for defamation. As the site is based in Thailand (I believe?) we have to be sensitive to local political realities. Ajarn has had trouble in the past over school owners/administrators/important connected people attacking the site when they allowed posters to come down on their schools, however truthfully.

I would prefer that we keep those problems off this subforum, unless the OP is willing to post ALL the details (like a scan of the court order telling the school to pay him) proving that his allegations are fact.

Now, on a *completely unrelated* topic, we do have a thread: Schools You Don't Recommend To Your Friends. This thread is for the NAMES (*ONLY*) of schools you don't recommend to friends. The link for it is below:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31430

I'm sure that nobody would misunderstand if the OP wished to post the names of schools he didn't recommend to his friends there.

And if you want to tell all and get it out of your system, try www.teflwatch.org- you'll find a sympathetic audience there for your full story on a website based *outside* of Thailand.

"Steven"

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Wow, Fair Play! Was the "Stage" set in Bkk? And no fine for you working in Thailand without a workpermit? Businessvisa?

I know this story from the other site so I hope it's okay to answer on his behalf....

He was on a Non-imm O, but the court/judge ruled that it was the school's duty to get him a WP...and they didn't so no comeback to him.

Anybody knows about compensation after long term (10 years) employment?

Roughly if they sack you you should get around a month's wage for every year you've worked (roughly).

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Wow, Fair Play! Was the "Stage" set in Bkk? And no fine for you working in Thailand without a workpermit? Businessvisa?

Anybody knows about compensation after long term (10 years) employment?

It's one month salary per full year of employment up to 6 years, anything over 6 years (even one day over) is 10 months salary and according to my Lawyer, that is the ceiling.

Edited by geronimo
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Great story Geromino. Nice to see someone sticking up for themselves in this country. A lot of farangs would have said TIT and got sweet F.A. but you done the right thing and got a result. This story should be pinned for all the farangs who think that they can be automatically cheated in this country and have no rights.

Top job, well done! :o

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Great story Geromino. Nice to see someone sticking up for themselves in this country. A lot of farangs would have said TIT and got sweet F.A. but you done the right thing and got a result. This story should be pinned for all the farangs who think that they can be automatically cheated in this country and have no rights.

Top job, well done! :o

It bears repeating that legally speaking, foreigners are NOT necessarily completely without support here. Even if you are completely illegal (no WP, working as a tourist, etc.) the labour laws *still* cover you (the reason this makes sense is so that companies aren't encouraged to hire illegal labour to get around the labour laws). It *does* mean that even if you win your labour case, you may be in trouble with immigration- but those are the risks, after all.

"Steven"

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