2.

Bangladesh Labour Act, 2005

Some of the Provisions of Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 are as follows:

Bangladesh Labour, 2006 (BLL 2006) has come into force from October 17,2006 repealing 25

existing laws of the countrY.

With some exceptions BLL 2006 shall apply to all establishments (including Garments and

Shrimp industry) of Bangladesh.

,Establishment'means any shop, commercial establishment, industrial establishment or

premises in which workers are employed for the purpose of carrying on any industry,

"lndustry" means any business, trade, manufacture, calling, Service, employment or occupation'

,worker'means any person including an apprentice employed in any establishment or industry,

either directly or through a contractor, to do any skilled, unskilled, manual, technical, trade

promotional or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be

expressed or implied, but does not include a person employed mainly in a managerial or

administrative caPacitY

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND SERVICE

3. Appointments Letter and ldentity Card: lt shall be mandatory for the employer to provide the

workers appointment letters and identity cards.

4. Service Book: Every employer shall, at his own cost, provide a service book for every worker

employed by him.

CESSATION OF SERVICE

5. Death benefits: lf a worker dies while in service after a continuous service of three years, his

nominee or dependent (in the absence of any nominee) shall receive from the employer

compensation @ thirty days wages for every completed year of service or for any part thereof

in excess of three months or gratuity, whichever is higher'

However, if such worker is covered by any compulsory insurance scheme of the establishment,

or, if any compensation is payable for such death due to accident, the worker sl,all be entitled

to whichever is higher.

Under the previous law there was no provision for payment of death benefit to the workers.

6. Retrenchment: A worker may be retrenched on the ground of redundancy. Where any worker

belonging to a particular category of workers is to be retrenched, the employer shall retrench

the worker who was the last person to be employed in that category'

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Financial Benefits:

a. For retrenchment, the worker shall be provided with one month's notice or pay in lieu

of such notice.

b. The worker shall be paid compensation @ one month's wages (basic + DA,

every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher'

Discharge: A worker may be discharged from service for reasons of physical or mental

incapacity or continued ill-health certified by a registered medical practitioner.

Financial Benefits: The worker shall be paid compensation @ one month's wages (basic + DA, if

any) for every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.

Terminationg A worker permanent may be terminated from his service by the management

without showing any reasons or causes whatsoever.

Financial Benefits: For terminating the service of a permanent worker employer is required to

provide benefits to the worker as under:

a. 120 days notice or wages (basic + DA, if any) in lieu of notice'

b. Compensation @ one month's wages (basic + DA, if any) for every completed year of service

if any) for

7.

8.

or gratuity, if any, whichever higher. I

9. Dismissal: A worker may be dismissed from his service by the management as a measure

punishment for misconduct. However, for dismissing a worker employer is requir6d to follow

certain procedures (disciplinary proceedlng). These procedures include, amongst others,

providing the worker an opportunity to submit his written statement of his defence against the

charges framed against him and hold inquiry to establish/prove the charges against the worker'

However, no compensation shall be payable if the worker is dismissed for misconduct of theft,

fraud or dishonesty in connection with the employer's business or property

Financial Benefits: The worker shall be paid compensation @ 14 day's wages (basic + DA, if

any) for every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.

Resignation from service: Resignation from Service:

(1) a permanent worker may resign from his service by giving to the employer in writing sixty

day's notice.

(2) atemporaryworkermayresignfromhisservicebygivingtotheemployerinwritingE

(a) thirty days' notice, if he is a monthly rated worker;

(b) fourteen days notice in case of other worker'

(3) where a worker intends to resigns from his service without any notice, he may do so by

paying to the employer wages in lieu of the notice which is required to be given as above'

Financial Benefits: Where a permanent worker resigns from his service under this section, he

shall be paid by the employer compensationE

(a) at the rate of fourteen days' wages for every completed year of service, if he has

completed five years of continuous service or more but less than ten years ;

(b) at the rate of thirty days'wages for every completed year of service. if he has completed

ten years of continuous service or more.

10.

/Under the previous law, employers were not required to pay any compensation to the workers

for resignation.

Lt. Retirement: On attaining 60 years of age, all workers shall retire from their services. A wcrker,

on his own, shall also be entitled to retlre from his service if he completes 25 years of service

under the same emPloYer.

Financial Benefits: The worker shall be paid compensation @ one month's wages (basic + DA, if

any) for every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher. A retired worker

shall receive compensation @ thirty days wages for every completed year of service or gratuity,

whichever is higher.

Under the previous law there was no provision for retirement'

PROHIBITION OF EMPLOYEMENT OF CHILDREN

L2. No child (who has not completed 14years of age) shall be permitted to work in any occupation

or establishment'

A certificate granted by a registered medical practitioner shall be conclusive evidence as to age

of person to whom it relates'

13. Exception: A child who has completed 12 years of age may be employed in such light work as

not to endanger his health and development or interfare with his education.

MATERNITY BENEFIT

t4 A pregnant female worker who has worked in the establishment for not less then six months

(under the previous law it was nine months) immediately preceding the day of her delivery shall

be entitled to maternity benefit (eight weeks leave with pay preceding the day of her delivery

and eight weeks leave with pay after the day of delivery) from his employer.

However, a female worker who has two or more surviving children shall not be entitled such

benefit, but in that case she shall be entitled to the leave to which she would otherwise be

entitled.

WORKING HOURS AND LEAVE

15. Daily hours: The daily working hours of a worker shall be 8 hours. With overtime work the

working hours in a day may be 10 hours.

16. lnterval for rest or meal:

i. A worker shall be entitled to an interval of at least one hour during that day for rest or meal

if his working hour exceeds six hours in any day.

ii. A worker shall be entitled to an interval of at least half an hour during that day for rest or

meal if his working hour exceeds five hours in any one day'

iii. A worker shall be entitled to an interval of either a "one-hour" or two "half an hour" during

that day for rest or meal if his working hour exceeds eight hours in any one day.

77. Weekly hours; No adult worker shall ordinarily be required or allowed to work in an

establishment for more than forty-eight hours in any week. However with overtime work thetotal hours of work of an adult worker shall not exceed sixty hours in any rveek and on theaverage fifty-six hours per week in any year:

18. Weekly holiday: An adult worker employed in an establishment sfralt be allowed in each week

one and half davs holiday and in factory and establishment one dav in a week;

19. Extra-allowance for overtime: ln respect of overtime work a worker shall be entitled to

allowance at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of basic wage and Cearness allowance and ad-

hoc or interim pay, if any. The calculation may be in the following manner:

Monthly Salory (Basic) + 208 hours X 2 X No, of hours of overtime work= Overtime Poyment.

20. Limitation of Working Hours for Women: No women worker, without her consent, shall be

allowed to work in an establishment between the hours of-10.00 PM and 6.00 AM. Earlier

women workers were strictly prohibited to work between 8.00 PM and 7.00 AM'

2L, Casual Leave: All workers shall be entitled to casual leave with full wages for 10 days in a

calendar year. Leave unused in a year cannot be carried forward to the next year.

22. Sick Leave: All workers shall be entitled to sick leave with full wages for 14 days in a calendar

year. Leave unused in a year cannot be carried forward to the next year.

Under the previous taw, vrorkers working in factories were entitled to 14 days sick leave with

half wages.

?3. Annual Leave: All workers who have completed one year of continuous service shall be allowed

during the subsequent period of twelve months one day leave with wages for everylQ days of

work in the previous year. Leave unused in a year can be carried forward to the next year under

certain limitations.

Under the previous law, workers working in the factories were entitled to one day leave withwages for every 22 days of work.

24. Festival Holidays: For every workers festival holidays have been increased to 11 days fromprevious 10 days.

WAGES AND PAYMENT

25" Responsibility for payment of wages: Every employer shall be responsible for the payment to

workers employed by him of all wages required to be paid under this Act:

The chief executive officer, the manager or any other person responsible to the employer for

the supervision and control of an establishment shall also be responsible for such payment.

When the wages of a worker employed by the contractor is not paid by the contractor, the

rvages shall be paid by the employer of the establishment and the same shall be adjusted from

the contractor.

26. Fixation of wage-periods: No wage period shall exceed one month.

27. Time of payment of wages: The wages of every worker shall be paid before the expiry of the

seventh day after the last day of the wage period in respect of which the wages are payable.

jbs

/ Where the employment of any worker is terminated by retirement or by the employer, whether

by way of retrenchment, discharge, removal, dismissal or otherwise, the wages payable to him

shall be paid before the expiry of the seventh working day from the day on which his

emploYment is so terminated.

MINIMUM WAGES

2g. Recommendation of minimum rates of wages for certain workers: ln respect of any industry, if

the Government is of the oplnion that it is reasonable and necessary to fix the minimum rates

of wages for all or any class of workers employed in such industry, it may direct the Wages

Board to recommend, after such enquiry as the Wages Board thinks fit, the minimum rates of

wages for such workers or class of workers'

Upon receiving recommendation from the Wage Board the Government may, by notification in

the official Gazette, declare that the minimum rates of wages recommended by the Wages

Board for the various workers shall, subject to such exception as may be specified in the

notification, be the minimum rates of wages for such workers'

29. Factors to be considered: ln recommending the minimum wages, the Wages Board shall take into

conslderation cost of living, standard of living, cost of production, productivity, price of

products, business capability, economic and social conditions of the country and of the locality

concerned and other relevant factors.

COMPENSATION

30. ln case of death resulting from injury, the amount of compensation, payable to the dependents

of the deceased worker has been increased to Tk. 100,000/- from previous Tk. 21,000/- (Fifth

Schedu I e).

31. ln case of permanent total disablement resulting from injury, the amount of compensation has

been increased to Tk. 125,000/- from previous Tk' 30,000/-'

TRADE UNIONS

32. ln a given time, there cannot be more than three registered trade unions in an establishment'

33. All workers apart from persons, who are employed as a member of the watch and ward or

security staff or fire-fighting staff or confidential assistant or telex operator or fax operator or

cypher assistant of any establishment, are entitled to be members of a trade union.

34. An ex-worker of an establishment shall not be entitled to maintain his membership in the trade

union of that establishment'

35. A trade union of workers shall be entitled to registration if it has a minimum membership of

thirty percent of the total number of workers employed in the establishment in which it is

formed.

36. A trade union which is unregistered or whose registration has been cancelled shall re:!function

as a trade union.

37. No worker shall be entitled to enroll himself, as, or to continue to be, a member of more than

one trade union at the same time.

38. Workers shall be entitled to form trade union on "Establishment" basis. But in certain sectors

(like private road transport, private inland river transport, tea, jute bailing, tennary, bidi etc.),

workers working in different establishment shall be entitled to form trade union only on

specified area basis.

39. While registration application is pending before the Registrar of Trade Unions, the services of

the members of the trade union cannot be terminated by the employer.

Federation of Trade Unions:

40. Any two or more registered trade unions formed in establishments engaged, or carrying on,

same, similar or identical industry shall be entitled to form Federation of Trade Unions on

"lndustry Basis".

4!. At least 20 trade unions of more than one industry/sector shall be entitled to form Federation

of Trade Unions on 'National Basis'.

42. A "lndustry Basis'' Federation of Trade Unions shall be deemed to be the Collective Bargaining

Agent (CBA) in any establishment if its federated union of that establishment authorizes theFederation to act as CBA on its behalf.

PARTICIPATION COMMITTEE

43. The employer in an establishment in which fifty or more workers are normally employed shall

constitute a Participation committee.

44. Such a participation committee shall be formed with representatives of the employer and the

workers. The number of representatives of workers in such committee shall not be less than the

number of representatives of the employer.

45. Functions of Participation Committee: The functions of the Participation Committee shall be to

inculcate and develop sense of belonging and workers commitment and, in particularE

(a) to endeavour to promote mutual trust, understanding and co-operation between the

employer and the workers ;

(b) to ensure application of labour laws;

(c) to foster a sense of discipline and to improve and maintain safety, occupational health

and working condition ;

(d) to encourage vocational training, workers education and family welfare trainlng;

(e) to adopt measures for improvement of welfare services for the workers and theirfamilies;

(f) to fulfill production target, improve productivity, reduce production cost and wastes

and raise quality of products.

/INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE

46. Settlement of industrial disputes: lf, at any time, an employer or a collective bargaining agent

finds that an industrial dispute is likely to arise between the employer and the workers or any of

the workers, the employer, or, as the case may be, the collective bargaining agent shall

communicate his or its views in writing to the other party'

47. Negotiation (bi-partite between the employer and CBA), conciliation (by the conciliator),

arbitration (by the arbitrator) for settlement of such dispute have been prescribed in as the

compulsory steps to be taken before resorting to strike or lock-out, as the case may be.

48. No strike is permissible in an establishment for a period of three years from the date of

commencement of commercial production if such establishment is a new one or is owned by

foreigners or is established in collaboration with foreigners'

49. lf the party raising an lndustrial dispute fails to make a request (after failure of the bi-partite

negotiation) to the conciliator to conciliate or fails to serve notice of strike/lock-out or

commence strike/lockout or refer the dispute to the Labour Court for settlement, as the case

may be, within the specified period, the industrial dispute shall cease to exist on the expiry of

such sPecified Period.

50. lf an industrial dispute is ceased to exist in the above manner, no fresh industrial dispute on the

same subject can be raised within a period of one year'

LABOUR COURT AND LABOUR APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

51. presently there are seven Labour Courts, three in Dhaka, two in Chittagong, one in Khulna and

one in Rajshahi, functioning in Bangladesh. There is one Labour Appellate Tribunal at Dhaka'

52. Against all decisions, judgments, awards or sentences of the Labour Courts, aggrieved parties

are now entitled to piefer appeal to the Labour Appellate Tribunal. lt is a huge relief for the

worker. Earlier, in most of the cases, to challenge the propriety of the order aggrieved parties

were required to go the Supreme Court of Bangladesh'

WORKERY PARTICIPATION IN COMPANIES PROFITS

53. Employers of certain undertakings (including garment and shrimp) are required to establish

participation Fund and welfare Fund in their respective companies and to pay every year 5

percent of its net profits to those funds. Thereafter, the amount deposited in the funds are

supposed to be distributed amongst the workers and invested in accordance with the

provisions of the law.

PROVIDENT FUND

54. An establishment in the private sector at its own discretion may constitute a Provident Fund for

the benefits of its workers.

55^ However, it shall be mandatory now for an employer to establish Provident Fund in its

establishment if three-forth of the total workers applies to him to establish such fund in the

establishment.