B36m awaits tsunami jobless

PHUKET CITY: Huge amounts of money are sitting waiting for employees who lost their jobs because of the tsunami. Of more than 40 million baht set aside for this purpose, only four million baht has been disbursed, the Ministry of Labour said on July 1.

Surin Chiravisit, Director General of the Ministry of Labor’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare said that, according to a ministry survey, some 28,300 workers are entitled to assistance from the government’s Tsunami Employee Relief Fund.

Yet so far, he said, just 523 people in the six tsunami-affected provinces have received compensation. “The Ministry believes the reason for this is that employees don’t know they have the right to compensation,” he explained.

“Tsunami-affected employees should present themselves at the [local] Provincial Labour Office,” K. Surin said. “Once we verify they are tsunami victims, it takes no more than three hours to approve payment.”

The period for application for compensation has been extended to December 31. Employees who need help should first call Tel: 1546.