Over 180 Burmese migrant workers who were left unpaid by their employer in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai were awarded more than five million baht (US$140,000) in compensation by the Chiang Mai Labour Protection and Welfare Office on Monday.

According to Sai Purng of the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), a Thailand-based migrant rights group, the Perfecto construction company was ordered to pay the regular wages, overtime pay and severance fees of 182 Burmese migrants who were working for the company when it went out of business at the beginning of the year.

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“The tribunal ruled that the Perfecto company had to pay the workers the more than 5 million baht that they owe them within 30 days. If company cannot deliver by the deadline, their assets, including real estate properties, equipment and vehicles, will be seized,” said Sai Purng.

There were initially 195 migrants in the case but 13 of them had returned to Burma or moved to other parts of Thailand.

The workers in August of this year also received more than two million baht ($56,500) in aid from the Labour Protection and Welfare Department.