JSL sells head office building to pay compensation to employees

Decha Kittiwitthayanun, a celebrity lawyer who has stepped in to help the employees fight the case, announced on his Facebook wall that he would lead the workers to receive the compensation at the Area 4 Employment Office at 9.30am on Wednesday.

Decha announced that Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin would be present to witness the compensation payout.

“Please spread this news. I did this job for workers. And the Labour Ministry should be credited for stepping up pressure on JSL until it agreed to pay every satang of the compensation of over 30 million baht to the workers. It has sold the head office building to raise the money,” Decha said in his post.

JSL Global Media announced at the end of June that it was immediately ceasing operations and had to lay off all staff mainly because of losses.

The company announced on its Facebook wall on July 5 that it owed 32 million baht in compensation to the staff but due to its liquidity crunch, it could pay only 16 per cent of the compensation amount at the end of June and another 9 per cent at the end of July. It said it would pay the rest of the compensation in monthly instalments as per the company’s ability to earn money.

But Decha led 79 former JSL employees to file complaints against the firm at the Area 4 Employment Office, alleging that JSL was violating the labour protection act of BE 2541.