ResignWise

Thailand Notice Period Calculator

Under Thailand's Labour Protection Act section 17, a resignation notice period is not a flat 30 days — it follows your pay cycle. Give notice on or before one wage-payment date and the contract ends on the next one. Enter your pay schedule and the day you plan to hand in the letter to see your earliest lawful last working day.

Your details

When are you paid?

Check your payslip or the day the money actually lands

Date you will hand in the letter

The day you actually give notice, not the day you want to leave

Does your contract state a notice period?

Add it to compare against the statutory result

Before you rely on this date

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What section 17 actually says

Section 17, second paragraph of the Labour Protection Act provides that either party to an employment contract of indefinite duration may terminate it by giving notice at or before a wage-payment date, so that the contract ends on the following wage-payment date — and that notice need never exceed three months. Section 582 of the Civil and Commercial Code sets out the parallel rule.

The operative words are “wage-payment date”, not a number of days. How long you must stay therefore depends on where in your pay cycle you hand the letter in.

Why “two weeks” and “30 days” both mislead here

Two weeks' notice is a US convention with no basis in Thai law, and the 30-day figure is only a rough approximation of what the pay-cycle rule produces when you happen to give notice shortly before payday. Miss the wage-payment date by a single day and the real answer stretches to nearly two months.

It cuts the other way too. If your employer pays twice a month, the next wage-payment date is only a fortnight away, so the statutory notice period is genuinely shorter — a point most employees never realise they can rely on.

Work it out from your own pay cycle before you agree a start date with your next employer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much notice do I have to give in Thailand?

There is no fixed number of days. Give notice on or before a wage-payment date and the contract ends on the next wage-payment date. On a month-end payroll that works out at roughly 30 to 60 days depending on when you hand the letter in.

Is two weeks' notice enough in Thailand?

Not by default. Two weeks is a US norm; Thai law works on wage-payment dates instead. Two weeks would only be sufficient if your employer pays twice a month and you give notice at the right point in the cycle, or if the employer agrees to release you early.

Do I still have to give notice during probation?

Yes. Section 17 treats a probationary contract as one of indefinite duration, so the same wage-cycle rule applies. The 120-day figure people often quote is the severance threshold in section 118, not a probation rule.

My contract says 60 days' notice. Does that override the law?

Whether a contract can impose a longer notice period on a resigning employee is unsettled in practice. The safe route is to agree a last working day with HR in writing rather than relying on your own reading of either the contract or the statute.

I am on a work permit. Does the notice period affect my visa?

Yes, indirectly. Your work permit ends with the employment, and an extension of stay granted on the basis of that job terminates once immigration is notified of the resignation. Your last working day is therefore the date your immigration clock starts, which is why getting it right matters more for foreign employees.