120 days' maternity leave and 15 days for the spouse

The Labour Protection Act (No. 9) B.E. 2568 (2025) was published in the Royal Gazette on 7 November 2025 and took effect on 7 December 2025. It extends maternity leave, gives the spouse of a mother who gives birth a right to leave for the first time, adds leave where a newborn has health problems, and creates an annual filing duty.

The Act applies to every employer, whatever the headcount. The new rights are statutory minimums: a work rule or employment contract that gives less is unenforceable to that extent, even if the employee has signed it.

What has changed?

• Maternity leave of up to 120 days per pregnancy, up from 98. That figure includes leave taken for antenatal appointments, and still counts any holidays falling within the leave.
• The employer must pay full wages for up to 60 days of maternity leave, up from 45. An employee insured under social security may also claim the maternity benefit from the Social Security Fund on its own conditions.
• An employee whose spouse gives birth may take up to 15 days of leave on full pay, to be used within ninety days of the birth. Thai law has never provided this before. The days may be taken together or spread out.
• Spouse here means a spouse under a registered marriage, of any gender. A couple living together without registering has no right to this leave, while a couple who register after the birth may still use it within the ninety days.
• Where the newborn has an illness carrying a risk of complications, an abnormality or a disability, the employee who gave birth may take up to 15 further days immediately following the maternity leave, at half pay, on production of a medical certificate. This belongs to the person who gave birth alone, not the spouse, and must follow on from the birth rather than cover a later illness.
• An employer with ten or more employees must file an annual return on employment and working conditions with the Director-General during January each year. It may be filed electronically. This one affects every employer and is easily overlooked.

Does it cover people engaged by state agencies?

The Act extends some protection to individuals engaged by a state agency under a service contract where the agency directs the work and pays for normal working time. The protection is partial: it does not make them employees and does not give them everything an employee has.

• What is covered: remuneration for work, weekly holidays, traditional holidays, annual holidays, sick leave, maternity leave, working days and hours, and rest periods, on terms no less favourable than the Labour Protection Act provides.
• Severance on termination is not included, engagements of companies are outside it, and it does not apply to civil servants, permanent employees or government employees.
• Crucially, the criteria and conditions have to be set by ministerial regulation, which must be issued within two years of the Act coming into force. Until that regulation exists this part cannot be enforced.
• Disputes under this provision fall within the jurisdiction of the Labour Court.

What should employers change now?

• Amend the leave chapter of the work rules to match the new days and pay. Employers with ten or more employees must have work rules and must publish them to staff.
• Update payroll for 60 paid days of maternity leave, 15 paid days for the spouse, and the half-paid days that follow on where the child has health problems.
• Add leave forms and supporting documents: the marriage certificate for spouse leave, the birth certificate, and the medical certificate where the child has health problems.
• Check whether anyone who took maternity leave on or after 7 December 2025 was paid at the old rate. If so, pay the shortfall before a claim is made.
• Diarise the annual employment conditions return for January, since failing to file it carries a fine.
• Tell line managers that refusing this leave breaches the Act, and that dismissing a female employee because she is pregnant has long been prohibited and carries a criminal penalty.

What if your employer is not giving you the new rights?

An employee refused leave or underpaid for it may file a complaint with a labour inspector at the local Labour Protection and Welfare Office, or sue in the Labour Court, where no filing fee is payable. One route must be chosen; they cannot be run together. Keep the leave request, payslips and messages exchanged with the employer.

This update summarises the law in general terms and is not advice on any particular matter. Employers revising their work rules, and employees who have not received their full entitlement, may send the facts and documents to the firm for review.