Deemed Retirement Age Now 60 – Right To Statutory Severance

The Labor Protection Act of 1998, Section 118, (LPA) requires all employers in Thailand to pay severance to employees who are "terminated" by the employer without legal cause (as described in LPA Section 119).  The Thai courts interpret "termination" to include scenarios where an employee retires at the retirement age stipulated in the employer's Work Rules or in the employment contract. See here for more information.

As previously reported here, the law was silent on scenarios where an employee wishes to retire but the age of retirement was not stipulated in the employer's Work Rules or in his or her individual employment contract.  Up until 1 September 2017, there was no default or deemed retirement age under the Labor Protection Act.  Therefore, if an employer's Work Rules – or the individual employment contract of a particular employee – was silent on the retirement age, the employee could not retire and collect severance (unless the employer agreed) because