Labour Minister Adul Sangsingkeo has instructed officials to look into complaints by employees of two companies who are claiming unjust treatment ranging from inconsistent pay cheques to unfair dismissal.
The first case concerns SPK Co, a furniture manufacturer, which disgruntled staff claim defaulted on wage payments.
The other involves a former employee of Yum Restaurants International (Thailand), which earlier ran eatery franchises including KFC. The ex-staffer maintains she was unfairly dismissed.
SPK workers and Apantri Charoensak, a manager of KFC fast-food outlets, sought help from Pol Gen Adul yesterday.
The minister said he would assign officials to follow up the cases.
Pratheep Pomthong, a 54-year-old worker of SPK, located in tambon Omnoi of Samut Sakhon's Krathum Baen district, said she had not been paid for one and a half months, amounting to more than 10,000 baht in money owed.
She claims to have asked labour officials to order her employer to pay up, but the firm only paid part of the sum.
Ms Pratheep said she only earns 310 baht a day and is struggling to pay for her child's education.
Surin Pimpha, the leader of a labour union in tambons Omnoi and Omyai in the district, said SPK workers have complained because the factory lets them stay in the facility without giving them work to do.
This has caused a number of workers to resign in frustration, she said.
Employees want the company to shut down and compensate workers in line with the law if it has no work or jobs for them to do and won't pay them properly, she added.
Kataphon Angboonphon, president of SPK Marketing, told the Bangkok Post the company is suffering from a cash flow shortage after a bank failed to approve a loan it had promised. It wanted to help workers but was constrained to some extent by money problems.
"We don't want to lay off workers because that would add to their burden," Mr Kataphon said.
He said during the Asian financial crisis in 1999, the company chose to keep its workers on the payroll rather than lay them off.
Mr Kataphon asked the government to negotiate with the firm's creditors in a bid to release the loan so that its employees can receive their due wages.
Ananchai Uthaipattanacheep, director-general of the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, said SPK workers should seek financial help from the Employee Welfare Fund.
Ms Apantri, the former Yum employee, said she lost her job when the company sold KFC and its other eatery franchises to QSA, a company affiliated with Thai Beverage, Thailand's largest beverage maker. She said other employees kept their jobs.
She claims her dismissal was unfair and has threatened to lodge complaint with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
A QSA executive denied workers were treated unfairly, telling the Bangkok Post that the workers were re-interviewed and those who passed interview were retained.