Thailand has enacted the Employee Welfare Fund. Employers will start submitting contributions and supplementary contributions from employees and employers from 1 October 2025.
The idea of Employee Welfare Fund is to provide financial assistance to employees in the event of termination of employment or death. Here are the key points:
Who must be members of the Employee Welfare Fund:
Employers with 10 or more employees shall be members of the Fund unless they provide a provident fund under the Provident Fund Act, or provide assistance to employees in the event of termination of employment or death according to the rules and procedures prescribed by the related Ministerial Regulations. However, even if an employer provides a provident fund or provides assistance for termination or death, if they have some employees who decide not to be enrolled in such a fund, the employer has to contribute to the Fund for those employees.
If the employer company has more than 1 branch, the total number of all the branches combined is to be considered whether they have reached 10 employees.
If the employer fails to pay the contributions or supplementary contributions or fails to pay them in full within the specified period, the employer must make additional payments to the Fund of 5% a month of the contributions or supplementary contributions which have not been paid in full from the date that such contributions became outstanding.
Rate of Contribution to the Employee Welfare Fund:
- Between 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2030: 0.25% of the employee’s salary must be contributed by both the employee and the employer.
- From 1 October 2030 onwards: 0.5% of the employee’s salary must be contributed by both the employee and the employer.
The employer must submit the contribution to the Employee Welfare Fund by the 15th of the following month otherwise there is a fine of 5% per month on the outstanding amount.
Payment of Employee Welfare Fund benefits upon termination or death of the employee.
In case of employment termination, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare shall pay the employee the accumulated amounts of contributions, supplementary contributions, and any accrued interest from the Fund. In case of death, the funds shall be paid to the designated beneficiary (who was specified in Form SorKorLor.5). If the employee did not specify a beneficiary, or if the designated beneficiary has also passed away, the fund shall be distributed among the employee’s surviving children, spouse, and parents.