Mohammad Ali Workers' retirement age irrespective of their public or private employment has been adjudicated as 60 years, instead of 57 years, sources said. "Workers at state-owned enterprises (SoEs), corporations and private institutions will retire at their 60 years of age as per the Public Corporation (Management Co-ordination) Ordinance-1986, the Bangladesh Labour Act-2006 and some High Court (HC) judgments," Advocate Mahbubul Hoque, who handled dozens of cases on the issue, told the FE. In a recent judgment, the HC directed some SoEs and corporations to allow their workers, who were earlier served with letters to retire at 57 years of their age, to be in their respective jobs until completion of 60 years. The petitioners-cum-workers, who completed 60 years of their age during pendency of the cases, shall get back all their salaries and other service benefits as per law, according to the judgment. The authorities were also directed to make necessary arrangements for payments of the workers' all service benefits treating 60 years of their respective age as their retirement age. Full text of the judgment was released recently. In reply to a query, the lawyer said a number of such judgments were passed in the HC Division. And the authorities concerned went to the apex court against those. However, they are yet to get any stay order on the recent judgment. The judgement says, a core contention between the two -- the SoE workers and the authorities was whether their (workers') retirement age will be regulated as per their respective Service Rules or Public Corporation (Management Co-ordination) Ordinance-1986 and Bangladesh Labour Act-2006. In the Service Rules the workers' retirement age is stated to be 57 years while in the other two laws it is 60 years. Another vital question, raised by the lawyers representing the authorities about status of the petitioners during the hearing, was that whether they are 'workers' or 'public servants'. However, referring to a series of HC decisions, the judgment found that the workers in any public enterprise or corporation are regulated by Section 14A (retirement provision) of the Public Corporation (Management Co-ordination) Ordinance-1986. "Thus, the workers are entitled to be in service until completion of 60 years of age. This view has also been supported by our Appellate Division in a case," the judgment noted. The judgment further states, "The Service Rules of the government-owned enterprises or corporations as to retiring their workers after completion of 57 years of age is not conducive for them." "As such, the proviso of sections 3(1) and 336 of the Labour Act will operate here in these cases to make the petitioners entitled to be in their respective service till they complete 60 years of their respective age." During the hearing, workers' lawyers quoted relevant sections of the Labour Act and argued that no provision of any law/rule, which is less favourable than the provisions in the Labour Act, will apply in case of a worker. Moreover, more favourable act/rule than the labour law will apply to such a worker by superseding the provisions of the labour law. Relating to the contention of the petitioners' status as 'worker' or 'public servant', the HC judgment said that they are workers in view of the fact that they don't perform any duty of administrative or supervisory nature. The HC bench comprising Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar delivered the judgment following 19 separate writ petitions filed by the workers of the SoEs. The petitioners were employed in various lower level posts of different SoEs and corporations including Petrobangla, Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA), National Tubes Ltd, Progoti Industries Ltd, Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC), Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Company, Karnaphuli Paper Mills Ltd, Ashuganj Fertiliser and Chemical Company Ltd, Jamuna Fertiliser Company Ltd and Latif Bawany Jute Mills Ltd. Mr Hoque, counsel of the workers, told the FE earlier, "As per the Public Corporation (Management Co-ordination) Ordinance-1986, amended in 1994, a worker's age is fixed at 60 years while the retirement age in the labour law was set at 57 years in 2006, creating two contradictory provisions in the same matter." Thereafter in May 2010, the government amended the Section 28(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act-2006, re-fixing the workers' retirement age at the 60 years in consonance with the provision of Public Corporation (Management Coordination) Ordinance, 1986. During the last several years, authorities of many SoEs issued letters sending their workers to retirement at 57 years, forcing them to go to the court for legal remedy. However, the officials, who perform duties of administrative or supervisory nature, will not be treated as workers and thus their retirement age will not be regulated by the provision of the labour law, rather by that of their respective service rules, Mr Hoque added.
Workers to retire at 60 instead of 57
FE Team | Published: October 13, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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