Maternity Benefit for Women worker in Bangladesh

Background & Justification of the study:

This report will be prepared as a requirement of Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel

Management (PGDPM) Course at Bangladesh Institute of Management. The primary goal
of the report is to implement the theoretical knowledge to the real life scenario with an
attachment to any organization.

Bangladesh is a developing country in south Asian region with 130 million of people.
According to Labour Force Survey 2006 of the Bangladesh bureau of statistics (BBS), the
total estimated civilian labour forces of the country is 60.3 million and among them
37.81% are female.

Women are increasingly entering into job market mainly in readymade ferments and allied
sector, tea garden, NGOs, health care services, food processing industry, export
processing zone, services sectors and commercial enterprises and informal sector i.e.
construction, agriculture etc.

In Bangladesh the root of social security system and laws are based upon rules and
regulation introduced by the British colonial regime. There is no specific national policy
at present on safety – net issue and very little discussion took place in society on this
regard.

One of the important safety-net issue for all working women is maternity benefit right.
But, in Bangladesh the majority of the women worker are deprived from this right for
various reason such as the,

 weakness of relevant rule/acts,

 lack of enforcement,
 negative attitude of the employers to violet the rules/acts,
 lack of awareness among women workers about this special right,
 week role of trade unions to deal the issue,
 Lack of seriousness from the part of the government on implementation and
monitoring of relevant laws at workplace level.

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The condition of maternity benefits rights of women workers is very much low in leading
women worker intensive sectors such as the garments, private shops/establishments and
services sectors.

The concerned employers are not properly aware on impact of violating this basic right of
women workers and the trade union organizations at different levels not giving priority
the issue in their regular activities for discussion and action. Different women
organizations working for the rights empowerment of women are not vocal on maternity
benefits rights of working women and media are also not much active to address the issue.

The following study will create an opportunity to obtain a clear picture on this issue and
help to develop a clear trade union policy and by trade union and civil society groups on
this issue in Maternity protection rights for workers.

Objective of the study:

Broad Objective:

 To review the maternity protection laws for all women workers considering
present Bangladesh situation.

 To review the legal instruments and implementation status and weakness of

maternity protection for all women workers and find out the impediments towards
its effective implementation and recent developments status in garments sector.

 To assess the wage determine and payment procedure laws in garments sectors.

 To find out the joint action among the stakeholders (Trade union leaders, NGOs,
Workers, Employers association and Government).

 To formulate necessary recommendations and Trade union policy to ensure the

maternity protection for all women workers.

Specific Objective

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 The specific objectives of this report are:

 Give a brief picture of conditions of service and employment of the workers of

MBM Garments Ltd.

 Give a brief picture of maternity benefits provided to the workers

 Prohibition of woman workers prohibited in certain cases

 Right to, and liability for, payment of maternity benefit

 Procedure regarding payment of maternity benefit

 Amount of maternity benefit

 Payment of maternity benefit in case of the death of a woman

Methodology:

I) Literature review (Part -A):

The Bangladesh Labour Code, 2006

Chapter - 4
Maternity Welfare Facilities

Section: 45. Prohibition of woman workers prohibited in certain cases.- (1) No

employer shall knowingly employ a woman in his establishment during the eight weeks
immediately following the day of her delivery .

(2) No woman shall work in any establishment during the eight weeks immediately
following the day of her delivery.

(3) No employer shall employ a woman for doing any work which is of an arduous nature
or which involves long hours of standing or which is likely to adversely affect her-

(a) if she has reason to believe or if she has informed him that she is likely to ne
delivered of a child within ten weeks;

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 (b) if she has to the knowledge of the employer been delivered of a child within the
preceding ten weeks;

Provided that in the case of a tea plantation worker she may undertake light work in
the plantation for so long as the medical practitioner of the concerned tea plantation
certifies that she is physically fit to do so; and for the days that she does such work,
she shall be paid at the prevailing rate of wages for such work, and such wages shall
be paid to her in addition to the maternity benefit.

Section: 46.Right to, and liability for, payment of maternity benefit- (1) Every woman
employed in an establishment shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the
payment of maternity benefit in respect of the period of eight weeks preceding the
expected day of her delivery and eight weeks immediately following the day of her
delivery;

Provided that a woman shall not be entitled to such maternity benefit unless she has
worked with the employer for not less than six months immediately preceding the day of
her delivery.

(2) No woman shall be entitled to such benefit if she has, at the time of delivery, two or
more surviving children, but in that case she shall be entitled to any leave to which she is
otherwise entitled.

Section: 47. Procedure regarding payment of maternity benefit- (1) Any pregnant
woman entitled to maternity benefit under this code may, on any day, give notice either
orally in person or in writing to her employer that she expects to be confined within eight
weeks of the notice and such notice shall nominate a person for the purpose of receiving
payment of the benefit in case of her death.

(2) If no such notice is given by the woman, she shall, within seven days of her
delivery, give notice to the employer that she has given birth to a child.
(3) When a notice referred to in sub-section (1) or (2) is received, the employer shall
permit the woman to absent herself for work-

(a) from the day following the date of notice in case of notice under subsection
(1);

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 (b) from the day of delivery in case of notice under subsection (2), until eight
weeks after the day of delivery.

(4) An employer shall pay maternity benefit to a woman entitled thereto in such one
of the following ways as the women desires, namely-

(a) for eight weeks within three working days of the production of a certificate
signed by a registered medical practitioner stating that the woman is expected to
be confined within eight week of the date of certificate and for the remainder of
the period for which she is entitled to maternity benefit within three working days
of the production of the proof that she has given birth to a child; or

(c) for the said period up to and including the day of delivery within three
working days of the production of proof that she has given birth to a child
and for the remainder of the said period, within eight weeks of the
production of such proof; or

(d) for the whole of the said period, within three working days of the
production of proof that she has given birth to child;

Provided that a woman shall not be entitled to any maternity benefit or any part thereof,
the payment of this depends upon the production of proof under this sub-section that she
has given birth to a child, unless such proof is produced within three months of the day of
her delivery.

(5) The proof required to be produced under sub-section (4) shall be either a certified
extract from a birth register under the Birth and Deaths Registration Act 2004
(Act No. 19 of 2004) or certificate from a registered medical practitioner or any
other proof acceptable to the employer.

Section: 48. Amount of maternity benefit.- (1) The maternity benefit which is payable
under this code shall be payable at the rate of daily, weekly or monthly average wages as
the case may be, calculated in the manner laid down the sub- section (2), and payment
shall be made wholly in cash.

(2) for the purpose of sub-section (1) the daily, weekly or monthly average wages, as the
case may be, calculated by dividing the total wages earned by the woman during the three
months immediately preceding the date on which she gives notice under this chapter by
the number of days she actually worked during the period.

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Section: 49. Payment of maternity benefit in case of the death of a woman- (1) if a
woman entitled to maternity benefit under this chapter dies on the day of her delivery or
during the period of eight weeks thereafter in respect of which she is entitled to the
maternity benefit, the liability of the employer under this chapter shall not, by reason of
her death, be discharged, and he shall pay the amount of maternity benefit due, if the
newly born child survives her, to the person who undertake the care of the child and, if the
child does not survive her, the person by the nominated by her under the chapter or, she
has not made so nomination, to her legal representative.

(2) If woman dies during the period of respect of which she is entitled to maternity
benefit, but before giving birth to a child, the employer shall be liable only for the period
up to and including the date of her death, provided that any sum already paid to her in
excess of such liability shall not be recovered and any amount due at the death of the
woman shall be paid to the person nominated by her under this chapter, or if she has made
no such nomination, to her legal representative.

Section: 50. Prohibition of dismissal of woman in certain cases- If the employer gives
notice or order of dismissal, discharge, or removal to a woman without sufficient cause
within a period of six months before her delivery, she will not be deprived of the
maternity benefit to which but for such notice she may have become entitled under this
code.

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 II) Literature review (Part – B):

Study of changes in provisions regarding maternity benefit in New Labour

Law, 2006 and Maternity Benefits Act, 1939:

Comparison Provisions of the new Provisions of the Changes in present

Point labour code previous labour laws law
1) Maternity In section 46 of the new Section 3 of the The new law increases
Leave labour law 2006 Maternity Benefits the maternity leaves to
provisions have been Act, 1939 provides sixteen weeks from
created for maternity maternity leave of 12 twelve weeks and
leave of 16 weeks (8 weeks (6 weeks decreases the duration
weeks before and 8 before and 6 weeks of the qualifying
weeks after the after the delivery). service period-for
delivery). But the law availing the benefit – to
also makes a provision six months from nine
that no worker shall be months.
entitled to receive the Also, no maternity
benefit unless she has benefit shall be payable
served under the owner to any women of at the
for a minimum period time of her
of six months prior to confinement she has
the notice of the two or more surviving
probability of the children.
delivery.
2) Procedure of Three options are open Previously the Changes have been
payment of the to the mothers as per procedure was guided made in favor of the
maternity section 47 of the new by the Maternity management, as the
benefit labour law: Benefits Act. 1939. management is
1. The owner shall Section 5 of the required to pay the
pay the total aforesaid Act benefit within three
benefits payable provided more working days. As per
for the preceding 8 stringent payment the earlier law, it was
weeks within 3 procedure as there binding upon the
days from the was the provision of management to pay the
submission of the payment within 48 benefit within 48 hours
certificate of the hours after the only.
probability of certificate from any
delivery (child physician was
birth) by a submitted, whether
Registered there remains any
Physician and shall working day or not.
pay the remaining
amount after three

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 working days of
the submission of
the proof-of-
delivery.
2. The owner shall
pay the benefits
payable for the
preceding 8 weeks
including the day
of the delivery
within 3 days from
the submission of
the proof of
delivery and pay
the remaining
within the next
eight weeks after
the proof of
delivery is
submitted.
3. The owner shall
pay all the benefits
payable within 3
days from the
submission of the
proof- of-delivery
to the owner.
3) Amount of As per section 48 of the No changes has been
the maternity new labour code there made.
benefit is a provision of the
payment in terms of
daily, weekly or
monthly, as and where
applicable, average
wages. The section also
provides the formulae
of the calculation of the
aforesaid average
wages as follows:

Daily Average Wages

Or
Weekly Average Wages
Or
Monthly Average
Wages
= The total amount

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 received by the worker
during the immediate
preceding three months
/ Total actual working
days during that period.

4) Benefits in As per section 49, The No change has been

case of the person nominated by made.
death of the the mother who died, or
mother in the case where no
such person is
nominated, her legal
representative, shall be
entitled to receive the
benefits as described
above.

Activity schedule for preparation of the term paper:

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The research topic of this study is a complex and large in nature. Therefore for easy

conduct of this research, a specific scheduling has been developed. For smooth conduct of

the study, the major activities considered have been projected in the following way:

• Basic study : 03 days

• Proposal approval : 05 days

• Data collection and analysis : 12 days

• Compilation of data : 06 days

• Final report preparation : 04 days

Field Survey / Interview on work place:

Company Profile:

MBM Garments Limited is a 100% Export oriented garments manufacturing unit,

located in heart of Dhaka city, at Mirpur, Bangladesh. It is a private limited company
owned by Mr. Mahmudur Rahman. The company that was established in 1983, with a
mere 150 personnel. Today has a workforce of over 2200. Equipped in doing all kinds of
woven products for both EU market & US for last 20 years, MBM is proud of its
contribution in being amongst the key player in Bangladesh Apparel industry. Its vast
experience of working with renowned client base such as Levi's, JCPenny & H&M has
given MBM the edge in not only producing on-time quality apparels, but also producing
then under fully socially/legally compliant unites.

Questionnaire for female workers

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Organization : MBM Garments Ltd.
Address : Building # M-19, M-14
Mirpur-14
Dhaka.

Name of the worker :

Designation :

Date of Joining :

1. Have you get any letter of appointment? Yes No

2. Is there any service book in this factory? Yes No

3. Is there any mention of maternity benefit in the service book? Yes No

4. Are you married? Yes No

5. How many children you have?

6. Did you enjoy maternity leave during your job in this organization? Yes No

7. How many days did you get as maternity leave?

8. Did you get your wages during your leave?

9. Do you know your maternity benefit according to labour law? Yes No

10. Does your organization give you maternity benefit according to labour law? Yes No

11. In case of death of a mother, did your organization pay maternity benefit? Yes No

12. In case of still born child birth, did your organization pay maternity benefit? Yes No

13. Does your organization discharge any pregnant female worker? Yes No

14. Did you get any assistance from your supervisor/manager after pregnancy to relieve
you from hard work to less stressed work? Yes No

15. What type of medical documents you had to submit to get your maternity benefit?

Designation of the respondents:

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 Designation No of workers %

Operator 12 35

Quality Inspector 8 24

Helper (Sewing) 5 15

Helper (Cutting) 2 6

Cleaner 3 9

Packing Helper 4 12

Total = 34 100
Table 1.1

Findings from the survey:

In keeping with the terms of reference of the study, information was collected both at the
organizational level and the individual level.

The relevant data collected from the respondent organizations and individual have been
tabulated, analyzed, interpreted and presented in this chapter.

Response of the female workers:

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1. Designation of the respondents:

Among 34 respondents 35% are operators, 24% quality inspectors, 15% sewing
helper, 6% cutting helper, 9% cleaner and 12% are packing helper. (Table 1.1)

Packing Helper 12%

Cleaner 9% Operators 35% Operators

Quality Inspectors
Cutting Helper 6% Sew ing Helper
Cutting Helper
Cleaner
Sewing Helper 15% Packing Helper

Quality Inspectors 24%

Chart 1.1

2. Issuance of Appointment Letter:

In response to this question 67% of the respondents replied affirmative, 33%

replied in the negative.

Without
Appointm ent
Letter 33%

With Appointm ent Letter

Without Appointm ent Letter

With
Appointm ent
Letter 67%

Chart 1.2

3. Issuance of Service Book:

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 83.3% of the respondents are of the opinion that they are not aware of the service
rule where rest of the respondents said that they did not have any service book.

Without Service
Book 16.7%

With Service Book

Without Service Book

With Service Book

83.3%

Chart 1.3

4. Maternity leave availed:

Of the total 34 female respondents, 28 are married and 6 are unmarried. 19 of the
married respondents were availed maternity leave.

Maternity
Leave Not
Availed by 9

Maternity Leave Availed

Maternity Leave Not

Availed
Maternity
Leave Availed
by 19

Chart 1.4

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5. Maternity Benefit:

53% of the respondents said that 3 month basic wage was given as maternity
benefit, where 24% of the respondents said that one month basic wage was given
as maternity benefit. On the other hand 23% of the respondents informed that no
such benefit was given to them.

No Benefit, 23%

3 Month Basic Wage

3 Month Basic 1 Month Basic Wage
Wage, 53% No Benefit

1 Month Basic
Wage, 24%

Chart 1.5

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Summery of the major findings and recommendations:

Major Findings:

 Appointment letters are issued to 67% of the workers. Appointment letter is a very
important document to enter into a contract between the two parties which have a
multidimensional impact. According to the employers, they find it difficult to issue
appointment letters due to high rate of turnover in garments industry.

 The respondents are view that maternity leave is provided to the women workers
but they are not clear about the benefit package. During discussion, it has been
reported that maternity leave is given with 1 to 3 months basic pay.

 It has been revealed that, most of the pregnant female workers were not supported
by their superior/manager for assigned in a less stressed work. In some cases,
female workers were forced to resign from job after conceived pregnancy.

Conclusions:

 Maternity benefit as specified in the law is to be provided to the women workers

as per section 45, 46 & 47 of the maternity benefit act, 2006.

 Law enforcing authority should be made more effective to ensure that the
provisions of law are being enforced in its true spirit. To bring about the
effectiveness, authority of the directorate may be enhanced.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1. BGMEA’s Newsletter

2. Journal and reports of various news papers

3. Supplementary paper of the selected industry

4. Previous report on some topics

5. Internet helps

6. Bangladesh Labour Code, 2006

End of Report

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