Under the labor law of Bangladesh, a badli or casual worker who has at least one year of continuous employment with the employer and whose name appears on the muster-rolls of the establishment gets laid off and he or she shall be entitled to get compensation from the employer. Here, at first we need to understand what is being ‘laid-off’ before understanding the procedural and conceptual aspects of being laid off. A worker may be laid off in accordance with section 16, if their employment is suspended for longer than three working days, according to section 12 of the Act. A layoff described in subsection (8) is effective as of the day that work is halted. The first three days of a worker’s pay may be deducted from the compensation due for a subsequent layoff.
Mainly, to combat the business loss, usually the employers try to cut off the labor cost by terminating the employees from the designated work. However, the law has put some restrictions on it as well that has ascertained in which specific circumstances an employer is bound to pay this compensation or not. Also, the law cutbacks the amount that an employee shall be paid under these circumstances. To get access to such compensation the employee needs to pass some eligibility checks first. These are: either their name is on the factory muster-rolls or they have completed at least one year of service under the employer which is one year of continuous service for substitute workers or they are not a casual worker who has not completed one year of employment. Basically, under section 16 of the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006 the right to have such compensation has been established which is demonstrated as “he shall be paid compensation by the employer for all days during which he is so laid-off, except for such weekly holidays as may intervene” in the sub-section 1 of this section. But the amount will not be equal to his or her full payment. In fact, it shall be half of his or her total amount. Here, the payment refers to either the basic wages and dearness allowance along with ad-hoc or interim pay. Even the payment for house allowance shall be included in this, if it is payable in full by the employer during this employee’s employment period.
In spite of that, a worker is entitled to compensation under Section 20 of this Act and the retrenchment rule for every term of layoff lasting fifteen days or longer, barring any other arrangement between the employee and the employer. The compensation is equal to one-fourth of the sum of the basic earnings, dearness allowance, any ad hoc or temporary pay, and housing allowance, if applicable. Nevertheless, this right to laid-off compensation is not an absolute right, actually laid-off workers are not entitled to compensation in uncertain cases. No compensation shall be paid to a laid-off employee who refuses to accept any alternative employment in the same establishment for which he has been laid off that does not require any special skill or prior experience on the basis of the same pay. Any laid-off employee who shows up for work at the establishment at the time designated for that purpose during regular business hours on any given day and is not hired within two hours of doing so is presumed to have been fired on that day. Additionally, the employee’s right to receive this layoff benefit may be restricted if they failed to show up at least once daily during regular business hours. Hither, the shift of the employees can also be considered prior to imposing the compensation liability on the employers. Every laid-off employee who reports to an employer for work and is not hired within two hours of his or her arrival is judged to have been laid-off for the day. If a person who has been laid off is asked to report for duty during the second half of the shift and does so, he will be off the job for one-half of the day while the other half is treated as on duty.
Also, during any calendar year, no employee may receive payment of compensation under this section for a period longer than forty-five days. But after these forty-five days, an employee shall get a quarter of the total basic which is bound to be paid by the employer. Apart from this, there are more reservations as well for the employers that need to be maintained before imposing the compensation, since the labor law is enshrined for the benefit of both employers and employees. During either calendar year, no employee may receive payment of compensation under this section for a period longer than forty-five days. Substantially, it is a protection mechanism for the employers to tackle the business loss by cutting off some expenses. On the other hand, the employees are getting a minimum amount at least, even in the period of employment crisis, if the employee has done one continuous year of the service under the employment.