The Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) will propose draft legislation to the Cabinet today to try to prevent sexual harassment at state offices.
Offences under the new regulations that could cause civil servants to be punished include kissing someone, holding another's hands, telling dirty jokes to someone who doesn't want to hear them, and sending pornographic mail or e-mails.
OCSC legal official Pirun Pienlertlam said regulations to be issued under the Civil Service Act 2008 covered five types of behaviour deemed to be sexual harassment in the workplace.
First was sexual or physical contact, such as kissing, holding or touching certain parts of the body.
Second was sexualised talk, such as criticising or joking about body parts and telling dirty jokes to an unwilling audience.
Third was sexual gestures, such as looking at others in a "sexual" manner. Fourth was communication with sexual content such as sending letters, messages or e-mails with pornographic content. Fifth was other actions deemed sexual and disturbing to others.
Pirun said the regulations would cover state officials and people assisting the civil service. People "damaged" by such behaviour could file a complaint to supervisors, who would be authorised to assign officials via verbal or written orders.
If complaints were deemed to have grounds, a disciplinary committee would be set up to find out facts for judgement and determine appropriate punishment.
The OCSC would publish handbooks for distribution to civil servants once the rules were approved so people could understand what actions are deemed to be sexual harassment.
OCSC secretary-general Benjawan Salangnintara said the regulations would cover 381,000 state officials at 19 ministries and the offices of provincial governor offices nationwide. They would not cover teachers, educational personnel, university staff, members of the Army, police officials or judges.
She expressed pride that the regulations were finally being put forward for implementation, saying that female officials had often been afraid to file sexual-harassment complaints.
She hoped the new rules would help encourage women to come forward if they had problems. She said offenders would be fired from the civil service if found guilty of severe sexual harassment.