Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006

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

1. Bangladesh Labour, 2006 (BLL 2006) has come into force from October 11, 2006 repealing 25
existing laws of the country.
2. 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.
Industry 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 Identity Card: It 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: If 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 shall 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.


Financial Benefits:
a. For retrenchment, the worker shall be provided with one months notice or pay in lieu
of such notice.
b. The worker shall be paid compensation @ one months wages (basic + DA, if any) for
every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.
7. 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 months wages (basic + DA, if
any) for every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.
8. Termination: 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 months wages (basic + DA, if any) for every completed year of service
or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.
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 required to follow
certain procedures (disciplinary proceeding). 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 employers business or property
Financial Benefits: The worker shall be paid compensation @ 14 days wages (basic + DA, if
any) for every completed year of service or gratuity, if any, whichever higher.
10. Resignation from service: Resignation from Service:
(1) a permanent worker may resign from his service by giving to the employer in writing sixty
days notice.
(2) a temporary worker may resign from his service by giving to the employer in writing
(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 compensation
(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.
Under the previous law, employers were not required to pay any compensation to the workers
for resignation.
11. Retirement: On attaining 60 years of age, all workers shall retire from their services. A worker,
on his own, shall also be entitled to retire from his service if he completes 25 years of service
under the same employer.
Financial Benefits: The worker shall be paid compensation @ one months 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
12. No child (who has not completed 14 years 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
14 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. Interval 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.
17. 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 the
total hours of work of an adult worker shall not exceed sixty hours in any week and on the
average fifty-six hours per week in any year:
18. Weekly holiday: An adult worker employed in an establishment shall be allowed in each week
one and half days holiday and in factory and establishment one day in a week;
19. Extra-allowance for overtime: In respect of overtime work a worker shall be entitled to
allowance at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of basic wage and dearness allowance and ad-
hoc or interim pay, if any. The calculation may be in the following manner:
Monthly Salary (Basic) 208 hours X 2 X No. of hours of overtime work= Overtime Payment.
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.
21. 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 law, workers working in factories were entitled to 14 days sick leave with
half wages.
23. 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 every 18 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 with
wages for every 22 days of work.
24. Festival Holidays: For every workers festival holidays have been increased to 11 days from
previous 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
wages 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.
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
28. Recommendation of minimum rates of wages for certain workers: In respect of any industry, if
the Government is of the opinion 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: In recommending the minimum wages, the Wages Board shall take into
consideration 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. In 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
Schedule).
31. In 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. In 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 not 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
"Industry Basis".
41. 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 "Industry 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 the
Federation 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 particular
(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 training ;
(e) to adopt measures for improvement of welfare services for the workers and their
families;
(f) to fulfill production target, improve productivity, reduce production cost and wastes
and raise quality of products.

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE
46. Settlement of industrial disputes: If, 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. If the party raising an Industrial 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. If 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 prefer appeal to the Labour Appellate Tribunal. It 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.

WORKERS 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.