The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) have been granted permission to make workers in the export-oriented readymade garment (RMG) sector work an additional two hours of overtime.
The Ministry of Labor and Employment gave this permission in a notification issued on March 30.
It said that this permission will be effective for six months from April 17 this year to October 16, 2027.
The notification stated that the applicability of sections 100, 102 and 105 of the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006, has been temporarily suspended (waved) in the RMG industry.
As a result, factories will be able to make workers work overtime outside the restrictions of the relevant sections during this period.
According to section 100 of the Labor Act, no adult worker can generally be made to work more than eight hours a day.
However, under the provisions of Section 108, in special circumstances, a maximum of 10 hours of work can be done.
The law also states that no adult worker can normally be made to work more than 48 hours a week.
However, although this period can be extended in special cases, the total working time in any week cannot exceed 60 hours and the average working time in a year cannot exceed 56 hours per week.
However, the government may, in the public interest or for the purpose of economic development, relax this provision in any industrial sector for a specific period through a written order.
The notification states that such exemption can be given for a maximum of six months at a time.