The core answer
Thai labour law has a specific provision for work from home: section 23/1 of the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541, added by the Labour Protection Act (No. 8) B.E. 2566 (2023). It lets the employer and employee agree that work is taken to the employee's home or residence, or done through information technology from any place, and requires the employer to record the agreement in writing or as electronic data.
The agreement "may" cover five matters: the start and end of the arrangement, working days, hours, breaks and overtime, the rules for overtime, holiday work and leave, the employee's duties and the employer's control or supervision, and who supplies tools and equipment and bears the necessary expenses. The law also gives the employee the right to refuse contact after normal working time, and gives home workers the same rights as employees in the office.
In practice, one agreement is not enough. The employer should prepare a set of seven documents covering time, costs, equipment, data, monitoring and exit, listed in section 9 of this guide.
1. What does section 23/1 actually say?
Based on the text published by the Ministry of Labour:
| Point | What section 23/1 says, in summary |
|---|---|
| Basis | The employer and employee "may agree" that work is done at home or residence, or through information technology from any place, for the benefit of the business, to promote the employee's quality of life and work, or where there is a need |
| Type of work | Work within the employment or agreed scope, of a nature the employee can conveniently perform outside the establishment or office |
| Form | In writing, or as electronic data that can be accessed and reused with its meaning unchanged, prepared by the employer |
| Contents the agreement "may" include | (1) start and end of the agreement (2) normal working days and hours, breaks and overtime (3) rules for overtime and holiday work, and types of leave (4) the employee's scope of duties and the employer's control or supervision (5) who supplies tools or equipment, including necessary expenses arising from the work |
| Right to refuse contact | After the agreed normal working time ends, or the assigned work ends, the employee may refuse communication by any means with the employer, supervisor, controller or inspector, unless the employee has given written consent in advance |
| Equal rights | An employee working at home or residence, or through information technology from any place, has the same rights as an employee working at the employer's establishment or office |
Two points are often misread. First, the text says "may" for all five matters, so the law does not force you to write them all, but if you leave them out, disputes about time, overtime and costs are settled later by interpretation. Second, the right to refuse contact after hours is a statutory right. An agreement cannot simply say "must answer at all times". If you want after-hours contact, the employee must give written consent in advance.
2. Can the employer force work from home?
The text starts from the "agreement" of employer and employee. It does not give the employer power to order it alone, and it applies to work that can conveniently be done outside the office. Shop-floor, production or machine-based work usually does not fit.
If the company wants to move an employee's regular workplace from the office to home permanently, that changes employment terms. Get written consent and read it with relocating the workplace of employees. For temporary WFH due to necessity, there should still be an agreement stating the start date, end date and main conditions.
3. Working hours, overtime and holidays when working from home
Working from home does not switch off the working-time rules.
- Normal hours: the employer announces the daily start and end time. A day must not exceed 8 hours and a week must not exceed 48 hours under section 23 (hazardous work under a ministerial regulation has lower caps). Where the employer cannot fix daily start and end times because of the nature of the work, the text lets the parties agree daily hours of not more than 8 hours, and not more than 48 hours a week in total.
- Overtime on working days: the employer may not require overtime unless the employee consents each time it arises (section 24 paragraph 1). There are exceptions for continuous work that would be damaged by stopping, emergencies, or other work under a ministerial regulation, allowed as far as necessary (paragraph 2).
- Holidays: work on holidays follows section 25, and overtime plus holiday work together must not exceed the rate set by ministerial regulation (section 26).
- Overtime pay: overtime on a working day is paid at no less than 1.5 times the hourly wage rate (section 61).
What WFH makes harder is proving whether extra hours were really worked and whether the employer knew or instructed them. A safe approach for both sides:
- State normal hours and breaks in the agreement (item (2) of section 23/1).
- Require advance overtime approval by form or system, stating the task, expected hours and approver.
- Get the employee's confirmation each time (section 24 says "each time it arises", not a one-off blanket consent).
- Forbid off-system after-hours instructions. If a supervisor gives an instruction and the employee does the work, the employer may have to pay even without a form. See the same idea in supervisor instructions by LINE after hours.
Some positions may be excluded from overtime pay under the law, so check position by position rather than writing "no overtime for WFH".
4. Who pays for internet, electricity and other costs?
Section 23/1 does not say that the employer must pay any particular cost. It lets the agreement set who must supply equipment and who bears the necessary expenses. So the answer depends on what is agreed, and it is best set out in a table.
| Item | Common options | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Internet | Fixed monthly sum / actual cost for the work share / employee bears | Amount or method, documents required, claim cycle |
| Electricity | Fixed sum / none, treated as included in pay | Say so expressly to avoid later claims |
| Phone | Company provides / personal device (BYOD) with partial allowance | Link to the BYOD policy in section 6 |
| Office equipment, chair, monitor | Company loan / company buys / none | Who owns it, who repairs it |
| Travel to office on meeting days | Company pays under existing rules / no | Keep consistent with office staff rules |
If the company pays a regular amount, consider whether it affects calculation of other entitlements and have accounting review tax. Those are separate from this guide.
5. Company equipment on loan: acknowledgment and return
When the company lends a computer, monitor or phone for use at home, use an equipment acknowledgment that states:
- the item, brand, model, serial number, condition, and photos at handover
- the purpose of use (company work only?) and that others may not use it
- responsibility for loss or damage, separating ordinary wear from negligence or misuse
- when and how to return it at the end of the WFH arrangement or employment
On deducting equipment cost from pay, section 76 prohibits the employer from deducting wages, overtime pay, holiday pay and holiday overtime pay except for the purposes the law lists. So do not write "may be deducted from salary" in the acknowledgment. The safer route is to have the item returned and, if there is damage, make a separate claim, as discussed in training bond repayment.
6. BYOD and monitoring: how far can you go under the PDPA?
Many companies let staff use personal phones or laptops (BYOD). The same device then holds company data and the employee's personal data.
An IT and BYOD policy should at least set:
- Permitted devices and minimum operating system
- Required security measures, such as passwords, device encryption, screen lock, company-designated software and VPN
- No company files in personal storage, personal email or chat, and no screenshots of confidential documents
- Separation of work and personal space, for example work-profile apps or containers
- Immediate notice if the device is lost, and the company's right to remotely wipe only company data
- Deletion or return of data on exit (section 8)
Monitoring work, such as screen recording, keystroke counting, location tracking or an always-on camera, is processing of the employee's personal data under the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (PDPA). Principles to follow:
- Monitor only what is necessary and proportionate to the reason, such as system security or quality control. Capturing screens or watching by camera all day inside an employee's home reaches private life more than necessary and is high-risk.
- Tell employees in advance what is collected (logins, company email, system activity times, etc.), for what purpose, for how long, and who can access it, in a privacy notice separate from the employment contract.
- Do not assume consent is the main basis, because bargaining power is unequal and consent may be seen as not freely given. Consider other bases, such as the company's legitimate interest weighed against employee rights. See PDPA and employee data in HR.
- Do not inspect personal content on BYOD devices, such as photos, family chats and bank accounts, and limit who can see monitoring data to those who need it.
Have the company's PDPA lead review these policies before they are issued.
7. Confidentiality and data security away from the office
Home has no office-style access control, so the agreement or policy should set:
- Data that must stay inside company systems, such as customer lists, pricing, formulas and customers' personal data
- Network use: no public Wi-Fi for confidential work, no sharing the work device with family members
- No printing of confidential documents at home, or a destruction procedure
- No customer data in public AI tools; see corporate AI policy
- A reporting procedure for lost devices, hacks and misdirected files, so the company can assess whether a data breach notification is needed; see first steps after a data breach
- Confidentiality obligations that survive exit; see customer lists and trade secrets after an employee leaves
8. Assigning work, measuring output and exit
Assignment and tracking. When you cannot see the employee, a more proportionate and more provable method than watching the screen is to set outputs: weekly targets, deliverables, progress meetings at set times, and records in a task system. This matches item (4) of section 23/1, which lets the parties agree the scope of duties and the employer's control or supervision. If output will be used for appraisal or discipline, the criteria must be communicated beforehand.
Injury while working at home depends on the facts of each case, such as whether it happened while really working for the employer and whether it arose from the work. Do not assume the employer is always, or never, liable. Do require the employee to report an incident immediately, define a safe work area, and check the employee's social security and workers' compensation coverage as applicable. If an incident occurs, consult a lawyer before denying or accepting responsibility.
Exit and return of data. Use an exit checklist the employee signs:
- Return all loaned equipment against the acknowledgment
- Close access to systems, email, cloud and work apps on the last day
- Delete company data on personal devices, or send needed copies back, and have the employee confirm in writing that no copy is kept
- Delete or transfer accounts used in the company's name; see online accounts an employee will not return
- Remind the employee of continuing confidentiality obligations
- The company, for its part, keeps the employee's personal data only as long as necessary
Do not search or delete data on the employee's personal device alone. Do it together, or have the employee do it and confirm.
9. Documents the employer must prepare
| # | Document | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Company WFH policy | Eligible roles, approval conditions, how to apply and cancel, rules on time and contact |
| 2 | Individual WFH agreement or addendum | Period, working days and hours, breaks, overtime, scope of work, expenses, equipment, work location, aligned with section 23/1 |
| 3 | Equipment acknowledgment and return | Items, condition, responsibility, return date |
| 4 | IT, acceptable-use and BYOD policy | Security measures, data separation, incident reporting, data deletion |
| 5 | Privacy notice / monitoring notice | What is monitored, purpose, retention, who has access, employee rights |
| 6 | Overtime request form | Task, hours, approver, employee's consent each time |
| 7 | Exit checklist | Return equipment, delete data, close access, written confirmation |
In addition, where an employer has 10 or more employees in total, section 108 requires work rules in Thai covering at least items such as working days and normal hours, breaks, rules on overtime and holiday work, leave, discipline and disciplinary penalties, grievances, and termination. If WFH changes those rules, such as the way overtime is requested or data discipline, amend or add to the work rules to match (amendments follow section 110). The rules must be made known to employees, and section 108 allows electronic publication in addition. If the contract and the work rules differ, there may be a dispute over which applies, so keep them consistent.
10. Common mistakes
- Agreeing orally or by chat with no detail on hours and costs, contrary to the form required by section 23/1 paragraph 2.
- Not writing anything on expenses. The employee claims internet and electricity retroactively while the employer assumed none was payable.
- Expecting replies at all hours, when the employee has the right to refuse contact after the agreed working time.
- Letting people work extra hours with no approval system, then facing retroactive overtime claims.
- Installing monitoring software without notice, or collecting more than necessary, contrary to PDPA principles.
- Deducting equipment or damage costs from salary without a basis under section 76.
- Leaving company data on personal devices with no BYOD policy and no deletion step on exit.
- Not updating the work rules to match the WFH system actually used.
- Granting WFH to some staff but not others with no explainable criteria, inviting disputes about unequal treatment.
11. Checklist before launching a WFH programme
- Choose roles that can conveniently be done outside the office
- Make a WFH agreement in writing or electronically with the employee's clear acceptance
- State working hours, breaks and the overtime approval method
- State who pays for internet, electricity and equipment
- Prepare an equipment acknowledgment with photos
- Issue the IT and BYOD policy and get employee acknowledgment
- Issue a privacy notice for monitoring and limit it to what is necessary
- Set output-based appraisal criteria
- Review and amend the work rules if needed
- Prepare the exit checklist
Further reading
- Supervisor instructions by LINE after hours or on holidays: is overtime payable? — evidence and after-hours overtime
- PDPA and employee data in HR — legal bases and employee privacy notices
- Corporate AI policy and customer data — customer data and AI tools
- Former employees using customer lists and trade secrets — confidentiality after exit
- Employee resigns without handover — handing over work and property on exit
Work from home is safe when a written agreement spells out hours, overtime, expenses and equipment, backed by an IT policy and privacy notice that monitor only what is necessary, and an exit checklist that gets data and equipment back.
We help draft WFH policies, individual agreements, equipment acknowledgments, IT and BYOD policies, and amend work rules to match how your company actually operates. For an initial consultation, call +66 92 254 2045 or send us the details. See also HR documents and labour compliance.
This guide is published by Suwanvara Law Firm — a Khon Kaen law firm established in 1986. General information only, not legal advice on a specific matter.
