The Labour Minister, Mr. Suchart Chomklin, spoke about the Facebook post by the Royal Thai Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, which reported news that a Thai worker collecting shellfish in Portugal died in a water accident on September 23. As soon as the news was received, the Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan expressed his concern and gave his condolences to the family of the deceased Thai workers. The Ministry of Labour was assigned to check the status and provide support with the eligible entitlements following the law. The Labour Minister assigned the Department of Employment to check the information and urge recruitment companies to take care of Thai workers’ benefits when working abroad. The Overseas Employment Administration Division’s investigation found that Mrs. Thanaporn Sukprab, 52, was a native of Khon Kaen. She traveled to work as an agricultural worker in Portugal and is a member of the fund to help job seekers working abroad. She traveled via a recruitment company on October 29, 2020. Her employment contract expired on July 28, 2021, and she continued to work with the employer abroad. If a member of the fund dies in a foreign country, they will receive entitlements from the fund. The dependents can apply for a lump sum allowance of 40,000 Baht each and the actual expenses paid for the funeral abroad, not exceeding 40,000 Baht. If there is no employer or agency responsible or expenses exceed the allowance, the fund to help job seekers working abroad will consider the petition and supporting documents of the deceased. At the same time, the Labour Minister was informed by the embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, that it was currently processing various benefits that the dependents of the deceased were to receive.
The Permanent Secretary of Labour, Mr. Boonchob Suttamanaswong, said that he instructed the five labour leaders under the Ministry of Labour in Khon Kaen Province to visit the family to clarify the benefits and facilitate the submission of an application for a subsidy from the fund to assist job seekers working abroad. The objective is also to build morale for the deceased’s family and help in related matters. Additionally, he emphasized that all Thai workers working abroad do so through legal channels and apply to the fund to assist job seekers working abroad. This is so that they get protection benefits in an emergency abroad. From the five labour leader’s visits to the family, they received information that before traveling to work in Portugal, the deceased used to be insured under Section 33. The dependents are entitled to an old pension of 51,931 Baht, excluding interest. Now, the deceased’s husband has traveled to coordinate the receipt of his wife’s ashes in Bangkok to bring them back to make merit at home in Khon Kaen Province.
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Division of Public Relations
