Sahasawat dissects the Cabinet’s social security bill, finding that it grants the audit board power over the elected board and limits board members to a single three-year term. He condemns the wholesale copying of the outdated 2022 draft, including keeping maternity leave at 98 days, and urges the government to withdraw and reconsider the draft.
On 12 November 2026, Mr. Sahasawat Khumkong, MP for Chonburi from the People’s Party, commented on the Cabinet’s resolution on 3 November approving the draft Social Security Act (No. ..) B.E. ...., which is set to be presented to the House of Representatives. The government has been promoting it as a bill focused on enhancing benefits for insured workers.
Sahasawat said that those following social security law will immediately recognize this draft as merely an old bill lingering in the Ministry of Labor since 2022 during the tenure of former Labor Minister Suchart Chomklin. The benefits content remains almost unchanged, but significant changes were made to restructure power to curb and diminish the role of the "elected social security board," especially after the Progressive Social Security team won 14 seats in the election.
Sahasawat stated that this draft was brought to the Cabinet less than a month after the social security board election results. It limits the term of elected board members to a single three-year term. The most serious structural political problem is inserting increased authority for the "audit committee," appointed solely by the Minister of Labor. This committee acts like a "senate" for social security, obstructing and overseeing risk management and governance, causing delays and obstacles for the main board elected by insured workers.
He added that worse still, the draft grants the audit committee the authority to recommend appointments, transfers, promotions, and performance evaluations of internal audit heads to the Social Security Office Secretary-General—powers even the elected board does not possess. This design places political appointees above representatives elected by insured workers and employers. Although the Social Security Office insists the fund must be free from political influence, this bill opens the door for politicians to control internal auditing mechanisms and undermine elected worker representatives.
Sahasawat pointed out that clear proof the bill is being rushed for political reasons without genuinely including insured workers is the unforgivable basic error of retaining maternity leave at "98 days" as per the old law. The current Labor Protection Act has extended maternity leave to "120 days," effective for nearly a year. The Ministry of Labor’s submission of a draft with such an error in its own jurisdiction clearly shows it is a wholesale copy of the 2022 draft without proper scrutiny.
“The government’s claim that the bill can be passed in principle now and amended later in committee is unacceptable. Allowing a flawed bill both in intent and basic content to pass shifts risk onto insured workers and the public. The government and Ministry of Labor should withdraw this social security bill and redesign it transparently and fairly to truly enhance benefits for the people, not just to install political appointees who block representatives elected by laborers,” Sahasawat concluded.