TAK - Hundreds of unregistered Myanmar workers on Friday returned home as employees dared not hire them because of tougher punishments under the new executive decree on the recruitment of foreign workers, which imposes fines as high as 800,000 baht.
About 500 illegal Myanmar workers were seen crossing the Moei River to Myawaddy province opposite Tak’s Mae Sot district on Friday. Employers and entrepreneurs have been refusing to hire illegal workers and those who wanted to work in other types of jobs that were not stated in their work permits.
The move came after the executive decree on foreign workers, which took effect on June 23, imposes tougher punishments on those who illegally hire migrant workers or who violate the basic rights of immigrant workers
The law contains harsher punishments for both civil and criminal wrongdoing, with fines ranging as high as 400,000-800,000 baht.
The new penalties also discouraged job brokers from supplying illegal migrant workers to entrepreneurs.
A Myawaddy official said many Myanmar workers were asking why the new labour law had to impose harsher penalties, as they had entered Thailand to seek jobs -- not to commit crime or any national security offences.
Jor, 25, a Myanmar worker, said he had paid 3,000 baht in brokerage fees to a job broker who promised to find him work. After several factory owners refused to hire him for fear of being arrested, he had to cross the border back to Myanmar. Now he could not afford his transportation expenses home, he said, because he had spent all the money he had on brokerage fees.
Under the new law, employers who hire migrants for jobs prohibited to foreigners, employ migrants without work permits or with work permits for other employers will face a fine of 400,000 to 800,000 baht per worker.
Those who assigned migrant workers to do jobs not matching what is specified in their work permits will face a fine of 400,000 baht per worker.
Migrants who work without a permit or do prohibited jobs will face a jail term up to five years and/or a fine of 2,000-100,000 baht. Those who take different jobs from what is specified in their work permits will face a fine up to 100,000 baht.