Large Eastern Seaboard hotel operators were told they need to either hire disabled workers, provide them ways to make money on their property or pay into a government fund under the latest revisions to Thailand’s employment laws.
Speaking at a Thai Hotel Association Eastern Region seminar Feb. 20, Phanom Yodyiem, a disabled-lifestyle development officer from the Social Development and Human Stability Office in Chonburi, said operators face property seizure or retroactive tax bills if they do not comply with provisions of the 2011 Development and Promotion of the Disabled Fund Act.
Phanom Yodyiem (left), a disabled-lifestyle development officer from the Social Development and Human Stability Office in Chonburi, talks to THA members about Thailand’s employment laws, as THA-EC president, Bundarik Kusolvitya listens in.
The law applies to all companies with more than 100 employees. Under the law, such companies must employ at least one disabled person for every 100 workers, with additional disabled employees added with each additional 50 employees.
Phanom said the hotels that don’t wish to hire disabled workers have two options: They must provide concessions where the disabled can sell products or services, or they must pay into the Development and Promotion of the Disabled Fund
The National Office for Empowerment of People With Disabilities, he said, can provide rules, regulations and important documents hotel operators can follow. The office also has 108 examples of concessions offered to the disabled by large companies around the country.
Phanom said Chonburi currently has 15,000 registered disabled residents and “there has to be improvements made to the number of employees per operating business” in the province.
Any company that is not currently providing employment or concessions to the disabled nor paying into the fund is urged to contact the ministry immediately, he said.
