Not complying with the labor law, and not complying with their own employment regulations. In Bangladesh Commerce Bank (BCB), the words of the Board of Directors are above the laws of the country. Therefore, hundreds of fourth-class employees of the company feel that they do not need any rules. However, several senior officials of the bank also said the same.
It is known that 120 fourth class permanent employees of Bangladesh Commerce Bank were dismissed from their jobs on April 9 in violation of labor laws and employment rules. Then they are asked to apply for contractual employment like a pinch of salt. However, there is no rule to lay off the regular officers and employees of any state-owned organization and re-hire them on contractual basis. Moreover, in the case of retrenchment, the bank did not follow the rule of 3 months notice or payment of 3 months salary in case of immediate retrenchment as per the Labor Act. No provident fund, gratuity or labor participation fund money has been given.
In this regard, the sacked employees of BCB said, without giving any notice, just two days before Eid-ul-Fitr (April 9), BCB sacked our 120 permanent class IV employees without any crime. When we asked the reason for this sudden dismissal, they verbally told us that the financial condition of the organization was not good, so we were dismissed. But this is not true at all, because if the financial condition is not good, how come almost all the officers of the bank are given promotion only 15-20 days before? As a result, the bank’s expenses for salaries and allowances have increased from two to two and a half crore rupees per month. Bank authorities gave cars to all those who became assistant vice presidents from officers.
These fired employees said that about 927 people including the families of our 120 employees were half-starved on this holy Eid-ul-Fitr. I went to all the remedies but got no solution. We demand to keep our jobs. It is known that out of the 120 retrenched employees, 71 have been pressured by the management authorities of the bank to apply for re-employment. A driver of the company, who was forced to re-hire, on the condition of anonymity, told the daily news, “We have been pressured by our superiors to join contractual jobs.” Otherwise they threatened to stop our 3 months salary, provident money and other benefits of labor law.
A source of the retrenched workers said that Abdul Quader, the deputy managing director of the company, was involved behind this incident of retrenchment. The employees said that most of them have taken employee loans from that bank. Now if the job is retrenched they will be deprived of the provident fund and gratuity money. An employee of the company named Wasif said that everyone wants to live a little better. When we were regular employees of the bank, we took a loan from the bank to build a house in the village. I wanted to pay off the loan slowly before I retired. But in the current situation, the loan has to be paid from the provident fund and gratuity money. As a result, we had no job and there was no value in laboring in the bank for so long.
Again, the age limit for government employees is 59 years according to the law, but the bank has set the age limit to 55 years as per their wish. In this regard, it has been said that this age limit for employment has been fixed in the 386th board meeting of the bank’s board of directors. But according to the law, an organization can follow its own employment rules only when it can provide more benefits than those provided to a worker under labor laws. But lawyers and experts feel that where BCB is not able to implement the adequate benefits of labor law, it is not appropriate to formulate and implement its own employment rules.
In this regard, the administrative officer of the Legal Aid Office of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Zakir Hossain told daily news that the regular employee of an organization cannot be retrenched and appointed on contractual basis in the same organization. In this case, if it is a government institution, the aggrieved employee will apply to the Administrative Tribunal if he wishes.
However, labor experts and lawyers. Uttam Kumar Das said that there is no retrenchment in government jobs. Retrenchment is a provision of the Labor Law. Dismissal under disciplinary procedure in government service or terminated as per service rules.
Meanwhile, instead of breaking the law, the management board of the bank filed a general diary against the workers at the Shahbagh police station instead of laying them off from their permanent jobs and giving them the benefits they deserve. It is said that this general diary was made for the purpose of harassing the angry employees protesting the layoffs when they formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club on April 16. Bangladesh Commerce Bank sacked driver Md. About 20-25 people including Monirul Islam, Ayyub, electrician Arif, Farooq were present.
Despite repeated attempts to contact the Managing Director Tajul Islam for BCB’s statement regarding the mass retrenchment which violates the law, there was no response from him. After that, the managing director’s office was asked to contact the company’s head of marketing Farooq Ahmed. Farooq Ahmed told daily news that it is very painful to lay off 120 regular employees just two days before Eid. But we have not laid off everyone, only those who are above 55 years of age. And the rest have been asked to apply for reappointment. Those who had permanent jobs are being given contractual employment by canceling their permanent jobs.
On the question whether regular employees of a state-owned organization can be canceled and re-hired on contractual basis, he said, “We don’t have any rules, what our board says is the rule.” Their jobs have been canceled as the board has asked.
In addition, according to the labor law, if the retirement age limit for employees of state-owned enterprises is 59 years, does the board of directors have the authority to break the law and set the limit at 55 years? The official of the bank could not give any answer to such question.
When asked about Bangladesh Bank’s statement on this matter, Central Bank’s spokesperson and executive director Mejbaul Haque told daily news that the labor law is to establish the rights of the officers and employees. They can go to any stage to claim rights and if they have givens in Bangladesh Bank then they can complain to FICSD of Bangladesh Bank. The central bank will then scrutinize the entire process including the legal issues and take a decision.
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