Workers of various sectors are hardly getting the expected benefits from labour courts due to unusual delays in settling cases as well as non-implementation of the court verdict by owners taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
According to the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, a case in a labour court should be disposed of within 60 days. If the case cannot be disposed of within 60 days, the court can extend the deadline for another 90 days with a valid reason.
However, there is hardly any example of the court finishing a trial in any labour case within the stipulated 150 days.
On July 14, 2015, Abdul Wahab Chowdhury, an assistant cashier at DAP Fertiliser Company Limited, filed a case with the first Labour Court in Chattogram against the company, challenging his termination from the job.
After five years, the labour court delivered a verdict asking DAP Fertiliser to return Wahab his job, but the company filed an appeal with the Dhaka Appellate Tribunal against the verdict.
The appeal is still聽 pending with the court.
Wahab, who was the president of the DAPFCL Employee Union, said that the company had sacked him because he was vocal about workers鈥� rights.
鈥業 have been jobless for the past nine years. Even I could not get married due to this, though my age is now over 45,鈥� Wahab said.
In another case, on March 30, 2014, Abdul Malek, a worker at a warehouse belonging to United Commercial Bank Limited, filed a case with the Dhaka First Labour Court, accusing the bank authorities of not issuing an appointment letter for him.
In August 2022, the Labour Appellate Tribunal delivered a verdict in favour of Malek, rejecting the appeal of UCBL authorities that challenged the first labour court verdict in the case.
The UCBL authorities went to the High Court against the verdict, where the case remained pending for nearly two years.
鈥業, along with my 21 other colleagues, have been running to the courts for the past 10 years, but our cases are not being completed,鈥� said Malek.
Thousands of workers have long been awaiting justice as the country鈥檚 13 labour courts and lone labour appellate tribunal are burdened with a backlog of 21,061 cases.
Of the cases, a total of 14,289 cases have been pending for over six months.聽
According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment data, out of a total of 21,061 pending cases, 871 cases are pending with the appellate tribunal.
Contacted, state minister for Labour and Employment Md Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, however, claimed that the workers were getting justice from the labour courts quickly.
He told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that workers in other countries were not getting justice as quickly as Bangladeshi workers.
鈥榃e are working so that the workers get justice more quickly,鈥� he said.
Most of the cases are from the apparel sector and are related to disputes arising out of layoffs, dismissals, retrenchments, non-payment and delay in payment of wages and other benefits, compensation for workplace injuries, and violations of trade union rights.
Allegations found that owners of many companies show reluctance to implement the verdict of the labour court even without filing an appeal.聽
Uttam Kumar Das, who is an expert in labour and service law, said that if an owner did not implement the verdict of a labour court, criminal proceedings could be started against him or her.
鈥楤ut the initiative has to come from the plaintiff,鈥� said Uttam.聽
Court officials and lawyers said that the workers鈥� cases are stuck with the labour courts year after year, mostly due to unnecessary time petitions repeatedly filed by employers鈥� lawyers, the frequent absence of labour court members in court, and the filing of writ petitions with upper courts by owners challenging lower court verdicts.
A labour court consists of a chairman and two members, one representing the workers and the other representing the employers.
Apart from the immense suffering due to the unusual delay in settling the cases, procrastination is also consuming workers鈥� valuable time, energy, and money.
A worker needs a day鈥檚 leave from the employer to attend a hearing in a labour court, which creates problems for workers in their workplace too, said sufferers.
Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation, said it doubly victimises workers.
鈥楾he workers were first victimised at the workplace and then victimised after filing a case due to delay in the trial,鈥� he said.
Registrar Adhir Chandra Bala of the appellate tribunal said that the pending cases are reducing gradually after the launching of new courts in several districts.
Currently, 4,802 cases are pending with the Dhaka First Court, 1,861 with the Dhaka Second Court, 2,347 with the Dhaka Third Court, 1,479 with the Chattogram First Court, 545 with the Chattogram Second Court, 148 with the Khulna court, and 93 with the Rajshahi court, 86 cases with the Rangpur court, 67 cases with the Sylhet court, and 93 cases with the Barishal court, and 143 cases in Cumilla court.
A total of 6,448 and 2,078 cases are under trial in two courts established in Gazipur and Narayanganj, respectively, in recent years.
