Channel 3 employees seek legal advice on ‘unfair lay-off’

The laid-off employees, who were reporters and programme producers of Channel 3 Family 1 and Channel 3 SD 28, came to the court at 10 am where they met with legal experts on labour law for over an hour.

Police from the Bang Rak police station were dispatched to keep order at the court as reporters from several media turned out to cover the incident.

Worachit Triphuet, 49, a political news producer who represents the laid-off employees for the two channels, said his group had yet to file a complaint but were consulting the lawyers on how to seek justice related to their lay-off.

Worachit said his group have several reasons for regarding their lay-off as unfair.

First of all, the company did not inform the staff in advance but merely told them they were fired them before the two channels stopped broadcast. The laid-off workers were also not paid compensation in accordance with Article 118 of the labour law.

Worachit said the company also failed to explain to the laid-off workers about the criteria used to select the employees to be laid off. 

Worachit said the laid-off employees would later visit the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications to seek advice on the issue.