SANGSAD BHABAN, Oct 29, 2023 (BSS)-Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad here with a provision to increase the maternity leave to 120 days from 112 days (16 weeks).
 
Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs Minister Anisul Huq on behalf of State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Mannujan Sufian placed the bill in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
 
 “Now a female worker can avail 16 weeks as maternity leave –-eight weeks before the birth of a baby and eight weeks after the birth. But the leave has been made 120 days in the draft law”, according the draft bill.
 
A woman can enjoy the leave at her convenient time before or after the delivery of the baby, it said.
 
Besides, the condition for formation of a trade union was made easy in the proposed law.
 
To form a trade union, the signatures of 15% workers are required in a company having over 3,000 workers and the signatures of 20% workers are needed in a company having less than 3,000 employees. As per the existing law, 20% signatures are required in both cases.
 
In the case of a group of companies, the signatures of 20% workers (instead of 30%) are required to form a trade union.
 
As per the proposed law, the decision of the Labour Appeal Tribunal can be challenged in the Appellate Division not in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court as the tribunal is headed by a High Court judge.

The minister urged the House to send the bill to the concerned parliamentary standing committee for providing reports within three days.