In the matter of being late, can you deduct money? Or if you are frequently late, will you be fired? These two issues may need to be understood in terms of labor law first. Is this a violation to the extent that money must be deducted? And if it is a repeated violation, can the employer terminate the employment?
In the case of employees coming to work late, there are many cases where the company takes advantage by setting rules and regulations that cause employees to lose benefits or be fired, such as:
“I was a few minutes late, but I was considered half an hour late.”
At one company, there is a rule that employees can be late for no more than 5 minutes. If it is more than 5 minutes but not more than 30 minutes, it will be considered 30 minutes or half an hour late, and the total amount of each lateness (even if it is only a few minutes late) will be used to calculate the salary deduction.
“The meter charges every minute you are late to work.”
Or another example of a company that has measures in place to prevent or reduce employee lateness. There are penalties for employees who are late as follows: Employees who are late for clocking in will have their salaries deducted 10 baht per minute. Or, in one month, if the same employee is late more than 5 times (even if each time is only a few minutes), their salaries will be deducted at least 1,500 baht.
“If you come late, you have to do overtime to make up for it.”
The company has a policy that if an employee is late, no matter how many times, they must work overtime (OT: Over Time) to make up for the time they are late.
“Being late just once or twice, you get kicked out.”
The company has a policy that if an employee is late, no matter how many times, the company can dismiss them without paying any compensation.
Or in the case where an employee is late 3 times, it is considered as having 1 day’s salary deducted, etc.
All of the above cases are wrong and the company really cannot punish the employees in such a way because it is against the law. What is right is
Employers cannot deduct wages from employees for reasons of being late, as this is against labor laws.
Referring to the Labor Protection Act of 1998, Section 76 states that “The employer shall not deduct wages, overtime pay, holiday pay, and overtime pay on holidays.”
But sometimes some employees are really late regularly, either for personal reasons or due to problems with their own behavior. If this is the case, the employer or company can proceed with the following steps: if it is the first time being late, give a verbal warning. If being late again occurs, give a written warning. And if the same mistake is repeated, which is being late, the employer can terminate the employment without the employer having to pay any compensation for termination.
“But it doesn’t mean that if you’re often late, you’ll get away with it.”
Additional information If we consider according to Section 119(4) of the Labor Protection Act, we will find that if an employee commits a non-serious violation of the rules and regulations, when the employer has already issued a written warning (with a message in the form of a proper warning) and within 1 year, the same employee repeats the same offense that the employer previously warned, the employer can terminate the employment because the employee who commits the offense repeatedly does not have to pay compensation. This means that if the employer has issued a written warning once and the employee commits another offense within 1 year, the employer will be able to terminate the employment.
Therefore, if an employee is late and is verbally warned the first time and is verbally warned the second time, and if the same employee is late again for the third time within the same year, the company can terminate the employee without paying any compensation.
Employers cannot make employees work overtime instead of being late because it violates labor laws.
Referring to the Labor Protection Act of 1998, Section 24 clearly states that “An employer shall not force an employee to work overtime on a working day unless the employee first agrees.”
Employers have no right to force employees to work overtime without notifying employees in advance. Each time employees work overtime, the employer must pay additional wages or overtime pay as stipulated by labor law. Therefore, employers should resort to warning measures instead.
The issue of being late cannot be compensated by working extra hours or by deducting salary or wages because doing this is illegal. If violated, the employer may be subject to the maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment or a fine of 100,000 baht.
For cases where employers can deduct from employees’ wages according to the law, referring to the Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541, Section 76, it is as follows:
- Deduct to pay income tax in the amount that the employee must pay or make other payments as required by law.
- Deduction to pay union maintenance fees in accordance with union regulations.
- Deduction to pay off debts of savings cooperatives or other cooperatives of the same nature as savings cooperatives or debts that are for welfare that is beneficial to employees only.
- Deduction for a security deposit under Section 10 or to compensate the employer for damages that the employee has intentionally or grossly negligently committed, with the employee’s consent.
- Deduction for savings according to the agreement on the provident fund. This is a deduction to pay for the provident fund.
Being late is not good for us anyway.
However, being late is considered a violation of work regulations. Although employers cannot deduct money from employees by law, they may resort to other methods of punishment, such as using it in the annual performance evaluation for salary increases, or certificates, or promotions in the organization, etc.
Or another option that employers can choose to use in cases where employees are late is No work No pay , meaning if they don’t work, they won’t be paid.
This method is the employer’s right to do this because this method can be used because the employment contract is a reciprocal contract. The employer has the duty to pay the employee wages and the employee has the duty to work for the employer as agreed.
Whenever an employee does not work the full time specified, the employer has the right not to pay wages for the time the employee did not work by calculating the accumulated time the employee was late to work each month, calculating how many minutes or hours the employee was late in that month, to use in calculating the employee’s lost time per average hourly wage rate in order to pay wages based on actual wages.
Conclusion
Now you probably know whether you can deduct money if you are late, and whether you can be fired if you are late.
The matter of labor law is important. If we do not want to be taken advantage of or do wrong without knowing or understanding, we must study the terms and conditions carefully. Otherwise, we may become the ones who lose benefits and may break the law.
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