Work from Home

   

Now, the 8th amendment of the LPA has introduced section 23/1 to the law to outline formal requirements for work from home agreements. Such agreement shall be made in writing or by electronic means and should include the following:    

    

Notably, employees working from home have the right to reject communication from the employer outside of the agreed working hours. Thus effectively preventing encroachment of office hours into the private life of an employee. 

   

Furthermore, the regulations state that employees working from home enjoy the same rights as employees working at the place of work, preventing establishing a two-tiered system of employees.

     

Please note: 

Even though the LPA now regulates certain conditions of work from home, it does not grant a general right to an employee to work from home. In fact, work from home is contingent on a specific agreement. On the flipside, an employer cannot simply order an employee to work remotely. From our point of view, section 23/1 main purpose is to protect employees working remotely, especially when it comes to office hours. Thus, section 23/1 mainly strengthens the colloquially called “right to disconnect”, thereby adding a necessary layer of protection to Thai labour laws.