Labor Minister Pushes Stronger Home Worker Protection Bill
Labor Minister Julapun Amornwiwat is championing a new Home Worker Protection Act to replace the outdated 2010 law. The bill would impose a 15 percent annual penalty on employers who delay wages or withhold deposits, extend protections to digital and service-sector homeworkers, and ban hazardous home-based work for minors under 18. The legislation entered formal parliamentary review on October 21, 2026.
Labor Minister Julapun Amornwiwat addressed Parliament on October 21, 2026, as the new Home Worker Protection Act entered formal consideration. He described hearing from home-based workers — seamstresses, artisans, and craftspeople — who labor from dawn to dusk yet face unpaid wages, endless payment delays, and withheld security deposits. The 2010 law no longer fits modern work realities. The bill's core provisions include: expanding coverage beyond industrial work to commercial, agricultural, and service sectors; recognizing electronic documents and digital work arrangements; mandating payment in Thai baht at no less than the legal minimum wage; imposing 15 percent annual interest on late wages, deposits, medical, rehabilitation, or funeral costs; prohibiting employment of children under 15 and banning hazardous home-based work for those under 18; and restructuring oversight committees to ensure gender balance in policy-making.
