Bangladesh Employment law

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Employment Regulations
Information coming soon
The employment market
Engagement and Dismissal
Employees' rights and remuneration
The industrial relations ordinance, 1969
Working hours
Pensions
Termination of employment
Wages and benefits
Employment of foreigners

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**General Figures all for markets**
Country	Year	Ease of Doing Business Rank	Rank	Difficulty of Hiring Index	Rigidity of Hours Index	Difficulty of Firing Index	Rigidity of Employment Index	Hiring cost (% of salary)	Firing costs (weeks of wages)
Bangladesh	2006	88	75	11	40	40	30	0.0	51.0
India	2006	134	112	33	20	70	41	16.8	55.9
Pakistan	2006	74	126	78	20	30	43	12.0	90.0
Sri Lanka	2006	89	98	0	20	60	27	15.0	177.7
United Kingdom	2006	6	17	11	20	10	14	11.0	22.1

Employment Regulations

The minimum age for workers in Bangladesh is 18 years in factories and establishments. Contracts are made in the form of a letter of offer. Workers may also be engaged on verbal agreements. In government organisations and in some private organisations as well, a probation period exists for skilled or semi-skilled workers varying between three month's to one year and during this period either party may serve one month's notice for termination from or giving up of the job. In the private sector, the dignity of labour is ensured in accordance with the principles enunciated in the ILO convention and recommendations.

Source: European Commission - Asia Investment Facility

Work permits

Information coming soon

The employment market

Bangladesh offers a substantial manpower skilled, unskilled, educated and otherwise. There is a good supply of relatively low cost labour in the country. Many of them have a working knowledge of English language and possess the basic skills required by industries. Of late, there is an increasing supply of professionals, technologists and other middle and low-level skilled workers. They receive technical training from universities, colleges, technical training centres, polytechnic institutions etc. The expenditure incurred by an employer to train his employee is exempted from income tax.

Bangladesh, with a population of 128.1 million people, has a large and cheap labour force of around 60 million, comprised of 40 million agricultural jobs (growing at one percent a year) and 20 million non-agricultural jobs (growing at six percent a year). Over the past eighteen years, more than 1.25 million Bangladeshi have worked abroad, officially bringing in over seven billion dollars in foreign exchange. Those remittances have become an important source of foreign exchange in recent years. All employers are expected to comply with the government's labour laws, which specify employment conditions, working hours, wage levels, leave policies, health and sanitary conditions, and compensation for injured workers. Freedom of association and the right to join unions is guaranteed in the Bangladesh Constitution. The right to form a union, subject to government approval, is also guaranteed. However, unions are not yet permitted to form in the export processing zones. Approximately 3.5% of Bangladesh's work force is unionised. Labour unions remain strongest in the jute, textile, and transportation sectors. However, growing fears were expressed that labour unionism may now be growing in the export processing zones, despite the theoretical bans mentioned above. During 2000, there had been an increasing number of strikes and sit-ins to protest redundancies and back wage claims, even though the government has always backed the employers, and been prepared to end the strikes with force. Considerable concern has been expressed by many foreign investors in the export processing zones that the Bangladesh Government would give in to demands of the American Federation for Labour and Congress for Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) to allow unions into the zones. The AFL-CIO have been actively lobbying the American Government to seek to have Bangladesh suspended from receiving preferential access to the American market, until it accedes.

Bangladesh's labour unions, most of which are associated with political parties, have a reputation for militancy. In early 1995, clashes between jute mill labour groups and the police resulted in numerous injuries and a few deaths. Violence and the threat of violence by trade unions have produced wage increases in excess of productivity increases, raising unit labour costs.Worker layoffs, or the mere threat of reductionsin-force, can be expected to cause some of the most serious and confrontational labour disputes. Labour disputes do not necessarily need to be heard before a legal court. Many companies have found it effective to resolve issues before a Labour Tribunal. Labour in private sector enterprises is mostly non unionised and comparatively more productive. Productivity in Bangladesh has been affected by hartals (general strikes) called by political parties and movements, which take their toll in downtime by intimidating people from leaving their homes.

Source: Deloitte - International Tax and Business Guide / www.bakertillyinternational.com

Engagement and Dismissal

Information coming soon

Employees' rights and remuneration

The Employment of Labour (Standing Orders) Act, 1965 Act VIII of 1965

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The Factories Act, 1965 (Act No. IV of 1965).An Act to repeal and, with certain amendments, re-enact the Factories Act, 1934 (XXV of 1934)

Registration under the Factories Act
Any manufacturing company that employs ten or more workers is required to be registered under the Factories Act, 1965 (Act IV of 1965) with the office of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Establishment. The Act is primarily to regulate working conditions and to ensure safety measures in the factory.

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