New rights for domestic workers in Thailand

© ILO

On 31 April 2024, the Ministry of Labour issued a new ministerial regulation under the Labour Protection Act, which extends certain protections to domestic workers. What is the background to this regulation?

Domestic workers in Thailand are covered under the Labour Protection Act, which provides protection for all workers. But there are ministerial regulations under the Act that exclude workers in certain occupations from specific protections. For example, there is a ministerial regulation for those working in the agricultural sector and another for domestic workers. Essentially, these ministerial regulations consist of several exclusions, so it gives domestic workers less protection compared to workers employed in other sectors. The new regulation changes this and gives domestic workers protections largely similar to other workers.

What are the key improvements in the new regulation?

Since April 2024, domestic workers should be paid minimum wage, when previously, they were excluded from minimum wage protection. Another very important change is the introduction of regular working hours. The new ministerial regulation states that domestic workers should have an eight-hour workday, like other workers in Thailand, with a one-hour break. If a domestic worker works beyond eight hours, they should be paid overtime. Additionally, domestic workers now have the right to maternity leave (albeit not fully paid)1 and it is prohibited to terminate their contract due to pregnancy. Preventive measures have also been introduced regarding salary deductions. 

What prompted the revision of this regulation and what role did ILO play?

These changes have not happened overnight. They have taken many years and involved a number of ILO projects, colleagues and partners who have all played an important role. 

In 2018, Thailand’s Ministry of Labour approached the ILO for its technical expertise to help revise the ministerial regulation covering domestic workers. Thailand had identified the ILO Convention 189 on domestic work as one of several priority conventions they were considering for ratification listed under Thailand Decent Work Country Programme. But to do so, they needed to understand the gaps in Thailand’s legislation relative to the convention.

So, in 2018, the ILO, through the TRIANGLE programme and together with our senior standards specialist, agreed to work with the ministry on this. We held a consultation in 2019 together with the ministry, workers, employers and some of our Civil Society Organization (CSO) partners who are actively assisting domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers in Thailand. During this consultation, we presented our findings and identified the gaps in the legislation. The Ministry of Labour began the process to revise the ministerial regulation and in 2021 reached out to the ILO, asking if we could talk them through the implications of what they were proposing. The proposed regulation was then made public and finally adopted in April 2024.

In addition to the legislative amendments how else has TRIANGLE supported the process?

We have supported this process in a number of ways. For the past ten years, ILO through the TRIANGLE programme has worked closely with HomeNet, an organization that works to promote the rights of home-based workers, including domestic workers. Together we have advocated to the government to increase protection for domestic workers and also to provide support services to primarily migrant domestic workers in Thailand. We have carried out research to underpin out work and also supported regional and national meetings on the rights of domestic workers. Earlier in 2024 we supported training for labour inspectors in Thailand that had a particular emphasis on the domestic work sectors. ILO has also developed a comprehensive training manual for inspecting domestic work sites, an area in which we have considerable expertise and capacity.

What lessons have been learned along the way?

I would say that constantly following up with the ministry and pushing this issue has helped a lot. It requires continuous, constant follow-up and perseverance, and that’s a valuable lesson learned. You can’t just run a few workshops and expect things to change. TRIANGLE, being a 10-year project, has provided a unique opportunity to follow through on the process and without the long-term commitment and support of our development partners, the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Global Affairs Canada, this would not have been possible.  It’s important to recognise the work of other organizations working in the field, especially HomeNet, who we have collaborated with so closely over the years. Of course, we must also highlight the input and support of our worker and employer constituents to this process.

While this is undoubtedly an important step forward that will help improve the working conditions of domestic workers in Thailand, what needs to happen next?

Revising the regulation is the easy part. Compliance and enforcement will be more difficult. Firstly, it is important to widely disseminate information about these changes. Secondly, enforcing these regulations is challenging. Often enforcement and compliance take place through labour inspection. In Thailand, labour inspectors have the right to inspect homes but inspecting individual houses is time-consuming and expensive. Labour inspectors generally prefer to visit large factories where there are thousands of workers under the one roof. Therefore, there needs to be an effective compliance mechanism that domestic workers are aware of and can access in their own language.  Another important step would be the development of a standard written employment contract for domestic workers, particularly for migrant workers.

Do you hope that the positive steps taken by Thailand will be replicated elsewhere in the region?

Thailand is a great example, being significantly ahead of other countries in the region when it comes to extending protection to domestic workers. All neighbouring countries should look to Thailand and follow its lead in extending protection to domestic workers because both regionally and globally, domestic work remains underregulated. The only country in the ASEAN region that has ratified ILO Convention 189 is the Philippines. We hope that Thailand will follow suit shortly. The amended ministerial regulation has certainly moved Thailand significantly closer to making this possible!

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1 Domestic workers receive 98 days maternity leave as other workers, but only 45 days paid (while other workers get 98 days paid).