Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq on Thursday (February 01, 2024) said the government is not harassing Noble Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus by filing false cases. “The government is not doing anything to harass Dr Muhammad Yunus. No false case is being filed against him. First a case was filed by workers and then the directorate responsible for protecting the rights of the workers filed a case.” He said this at a press conference on contemporary issues at the secretariat today. Read: 3 awarded life terms for 2015 murder in Cumilla  “Despite undisputable evidence, it is being spread abroad that the allegations against him (Yunus) are false, and it is being said that we are doing this to harass him,” said the minister. The minister said that the efforts being made at home and abroad to defame various institutions in Bangladesh centring on Yunus's case will be defeated. "As you know, according to the provisions of the Bangladesh Labour Act, an inspector can inspect any company if it is found that they are violating the law. In this case, on February 2, 2020, the inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) first inspected Grameen Telecom as per the provisions of the Labour Act,” said Anisul. "He found out that some laws were being violated. Later, on March 1, he wrote a letter to Grameen Telecom seeking their explanation about these violations and asking them to correct those,” he said. Read: Take measures in preventing price hike of daily essentials: IGP  “Grameen Telecom's response was not satisfactory, and they (DIFE) inspected Grameen Telecom again on August 17, 2021. After seeing violations of the same law there, a letter was sent on August 19 stating that the law was being violated. In such a situation, a case was filed against Dr Yunus and Grameen Telecom on September 9,” added Anisul.

Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley on Wednesday said aligning labour law with international standards will be an “essential element” for the European Parliament and the Commission in considering Bangladesh’s application for market access, the GSP+. “Bangladesh has the option to accede to GSP+ which is the next most generous GSP programme after the Everything but Arms (EBA),” he said while speaking at a seminar in Dhaka. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi attended the seminar as the chief guest while President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Md Sameer Sattar delivered welcome remarks. Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Lokman Hossain Miah, among others, spoke at the seminar. The DCCI and European Union Delegation to Bangladesh jointly hosted the seminar, titled “Unlocking Trade and Investment for European Companies in Bangladesh.” Read: EU urged to extend transition period of GSP up to 6 years for smooth graduation of Bangladesh The EU ambassador said the implementation of the National Action Plan on the labour sector, which Bangladesh agreed with the EU, will be key deciding factor for GSP+. “We are closely following the ongoing amendments of the Bangladesh Labour Act. We hope that the amendments will be effective with full transparency, in consultation with tripartite stakeholders, and with technical assistance from ILO,” he said. The envoy said Bangladesh is a rising economy with a great story of economic development and social progress. The graduation to a lower middle-income and to a developing country status are historic milestones which bring new opportunities and which call for a reinvigoration of EU-Bangladesh ties, he said.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday (August 20, 2023) ordered to continue the trial proceedings after dismissing a petition submitted by Nobel laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications, Dr Muhammad Yunus, and three others in a case over violation of labour law. A regular and full bench consisting of seven justices of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing the petition, said the defendants’ counsel, Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun. On September 9, 2021, Labour Inspector Arifuzzaman, of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, filed the case with Dhaka's 3rd Labour Court. Read: Labour law violation case: SC orders disposal of rule on charge framing against Dr Yunus within two weeks Other accused in the case are: Ashraful Hasan, Managing Director of Grameen Telecom, and its directors, Nurjahan Begum and Shahjahan. According to the case, in an inspection visit to Grameen Telecom, inspectors of the department found that 101 workers and staff who were supposed to be permanent were not made so. No participation fund and welfare fund were formed for them and five percent of the company’s profit was not provided to the workers following the law. Read: Appellate Division orders Dr Yunus to pay NBR Tk 12 crore tax on donations Later on December 7, Prof Yunus filed a petition with the High Court seeking scrapping of the case. On December 12, HC stayed the procedure of a case for six months. On June 6 this year, the Labour Court ordered the trial in the case through framing chargesheets against the accused. Later, Dr Yunus filed a petition with the HC seeking cancellation of the charge framing order. Subsequently, on August 8, the HC rejected the petition. Read more: Supreme Court to hear Dr Yunus's petition on July 23 Later, the Nobel laureate filed the petition with the Appellate Division seeking cancellation of the charge framing order. The division led by the chief justice cleared the petition after hearing it on Sunday.

A chamber court of the Appellate Division has fixed October 17 to hear a petition filed by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus against a High Court order rejecting his plea to dispose the labour law violation case against him. Chamber Judge M Enayetur Rahim fixed the date on Wednesday. Senior Lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun stood for Dr Yunus, while Md Khurshid Alam Khan represented the labour court. Md Arifuzzaman, a labour inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), lodged a case with Dhaka Third Labour Court against Dr Yunus and three other people accusing them of breaching the Labour Act on September 9, 2021. Read: Appellate Division declares Tareq's wife Zubaida a fugitive  Yunus filed a petition before the High Court seeking cancellation of the case. On December 12, the High Court put a stay order on the proceedings of the case and issued a rule asking why the case won’t be scrapped. The prosecution then filed a petition with the Appellate Division asking for resuming the trial proceedings. On June 13, 2022, the Appellate Division ordered the High Court to dispose of the rule within two months. On August 17, the High Court nullified its ruling and pronounced a verdict on the petition filed by Dr Yunus. On August 24, 2022, Yunus filed a petition with the Appellate Division against the High Court’s verdict, the hearing date of which was fixed today.

The High Court on Monday fixed August 11 for the final hearing on the appeal to scrap the case filed against Nobel Laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications Dr Muhammad Yunus over violation of the Labour Law. The HC bench of Justice SM Quddus Zaman and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajol passed the order. Lawyer Md Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments while lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun stood for Prof Yunus. On June 13, the Appellate Division stayed the trial proceedings of the case for two months. The SC also ordered the HC bench led by Justice SM Kuddus Zaman to dispose of the rule seeking explanation as to why the case against Prof Yunus should not be cancelled, said Attorney General AM Amin Uddin. On June 7, the Appellate Division ordered disposal of the rule within two months. Read: Case against Dr Yunus: SC stays trial proceedings for 2 months On September 9 last year, Labour Inspector Arifuzzaman of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, filed the case with Dhaka third labour court. Other accused in the case are- Ashraful Hasan, Managing Director of Grameen Telecom, its director Nurzahan Begum and Shahjahan. According to the case, in an inspection visit to Grameen Telecom inspectors of the department found that 101 workers and staff who were supposed to be permanent were not made so. No participation fund and welfare fund was formed for them and five per cent of the company’s profit was not provided to the workers following the law. Upon the complaint a criminal case was filed under section 4, 7, 8, 117, 234 of the Labour Act. On October 12, the labour court granted bail to the all four accused. Later on December 7, Prof Yunus filed a petition with the High Court seeking cancellation of the case. On December 12, HC stayed the procedure of a case for six months. The court also issued a rule asking the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments why the case will not be set aside. The court asked secretaries of the ministry of law, ministry of labour and employment and others involved to respond to the rule.

The ILO country director in Bangladesh has welcomed the government’s plan to introduce paternity leave as encouraging as it allows fathers to share family responsibilities with mothers. "In Bangladesh, the labour law provides for maternity leave for four months at full pay for a maximum of two children in order to enable women's participation in the workplace,” said Tuomo Poutiainen on Monday. “It is also encouraging to know that the government is working to introduce paternity leave," said the ILO Bangladesh chief. His remarks came on a day when the International Labour Organization (ILO) released a new report on Care at work Monday. Persistent and significant gaps in care services and policies have left hundreds of millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support, yet meeting these needs could create almost 300 million jobs by 2035, according to report. The report, Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work, finds that three in ten women of reproductive age, or 649 million women, have inadequate maternity protection that does not meet the key requirements of the ILO's Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183). Poutiainen said investing in the care sector is an important enabling factor for women’s participation in the workplace. At the same time highly skilled caregiver jobs are an important source of decent work employment accessible to women, which is why ILO supports the initiatives by the Government of Bangladesh in this sector, Poutiainen mentioned. The ILO, he said, is supporting the Government of Bangladesh in training highly skilled caregivers and referring them to decent work employment opportunities in Bangladesh and abroad. "So far, the demand by youth for these training opportunities in the care sector has been enthusiastic, and skilled employment in the care sector is expected to rise significantly, following long-term demographic and socio-economic trends," said Poutiainen. The ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention mandates 14 weeks minimum maternity leave on at least two-thirds of previous earnings, funded by social insurance or public funds. Eighty-two of the 185 countries surveyed for the report did not meet these standards, although "paid maternity leave or maternity protection is a universal human and labour right", the study says. At the current pace of reform it will take at least 46 years to achieve minimum maternity leave rights in the countries analyzed, which means the relevant target of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals will not be met. More than 1.2 billion men of prime reproductive age live in countries with no entitlement to paternity leave, although it would help to balance the work and family responsibilities of both mothers and fathers, the report says. Where there is paternity leave it remains short – a global average of nine days - creating a large "gender leave gap". The take-up of paternity leave entitlements is also low; a consequence, the report suggests, of low paternity pay, gender norms and policy design. The care at work report offers a global overview of national laws, policies and practices on care, including maternity, paternity, parental, child and long-term care. It highlights how some workers fall outside the scope of these legal protections.

Although Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in women's political empowerment, female members of coastal fishing households are still lagging far behind in terms of empowerment.

A court here on Sunday granted bail to Nobel Laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications Dr Muhammad Yunus and three others in a case filed for violating the labour law.

A case has been filed against Nobel Laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications Dr Muhammad Yunus and three other people on charges of violating the labour law.