Southeast University

Course Title: Compensation

Management

Course Code: MGT4124

Submitted To:

Ms. Syeda Khadiza

Lecturer
Southeast Business School
Southeast University

Submitted By:

Name: Mehazabin Alam

ID : 2017010000084

HR Policy for Garments Workers:

Since the first reporting by China in December 2019, the corona virus disease (COVID19) has
become a public health emergency and seized international attention. In Bangladesh, this

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number continues to increase as time goes by and the character of the virus transmission is
very fast since it was first announced in early March 2020. In response to this crisis, Better Work
Bangladesh (BWB) guideline on COVID-19 helps employers, worker representatives and
respective committee members responsible for managing their workplace during COVID-19,
protecting workers, and answering some of the workplace and occupational safety and health
(OSH) related questions that factories are facing. Better Work advises factories to tackle COVID-
19 by using a systematic approach that emphasizes on the joint collaboration of workers and
management through active engagement.

Current situation of Garments Industries during COVID’19:

 The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) announced in a
joint statement that the readymade garment (RMG) factories would remain closed until
25 April, On 10 April. The statement added, ‘If any factory office remains open to
disburse wages and other payments during the period, the factory authorities will have
to inform the respective trade bodies and industrial police about this.
 On 7 April, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi urged factory owners to pay the salary for
the month of March to their workers before 16 April. Factory owners can’t fire any
workers even though the factories remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the
country,’ he added.
 BGMEA were to start with 30% of the workforce, advising to ask only the workers living
near their respective factories to join. Based on the success of following health and
safety guidelines, factories may invite back an additional 20% of the workforce.
 BGMEA’s directive decided not to ask workers (who are back in their villages) to return
to Dhaka, hundreds of garment factory workers left their villages on foot or jammed into
whatever vehicle they could get to join work in Dhaka and its outskirts, thereby ignoring
the risks of contracting and spreading the corona virus.
 A large number of garment factories are not maintaining social distancing as per the
health safety guidelines on the working floor and factory entrances, increasing the risk
of contracting the corona virus.

Proposed HR Policies:

Factories to open should use following methods:

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  Priorities workers that live nearby.
 Those who returned to the villages should be discouraged to return, or not permitted on
factory premises until after the second phase.
 Exclude vulnerable workers, or those most at risk, such as pregnant workers or workers
over age 50. The guideline furthermore mentions that factories should consider paid
leave for these workers.
 The planning team may decide to priorities opening the finishing section, sample section
or part of sewing initially.
 The guidelines also detail measures related to social distancing, use of PPEs, sanitation,
hand washing, having a medical team and a separate area for to assess and quarantine
suspected patients, etc.

Right of laid-off workers to compensation (Bangladesh Labor Act 2006):

 Whenever a worker, other than casual worker, who has completed not less than one
year of continuous service under the employer, is laid-off, he shall be paid
compensation by the employer for all days during which he is so laid-off, except for such
weekly holidays as may intervene.
 The amount of compensation as mentioned in sub-section (1) shall be equal to half of
the total of the basic wages and dearness allowance, and ad-hoc or interim pay, if any,
and the full amount of housing allowance, if any, that would have been payable to him
had he not been so laid-off.
 A worker who has completed one year of continuous service in the establishment.
 No worker shall, unless there is an agreement to the contrary between the worker and
the employer, be entitled to the payment of compensation under this section for more
than forty-five days during any calendar year.
 Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (4), if during a calendar year a
worker is laid-off for more than forty-five days, whether continuously or intermittently,
and the lay off after the expiry of the first forty-five days comprises period or periods of
fifteen days or more, the worker shall, unless there is an agreement to the contrary
between the worker and the employer, be paid compensation for all the days comprised
in every subsequent period of lay-off for fifteen days or more.
 The amount of compensation as mentioned in sub-section (5) shall be equal to one-
fourth of the total of the basic wages and dearness allowance, and ad-hoc or interim
pay, if any, and the full amount of housing allowance, if any.

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  In any case where, during a calendar year, a worker is to be laid off after the first forty-
five days as aforesaid, for any continuous period of fifteen days or more, the employer
may, instead of laying- off such a worker, retrench him under section 20.

Transportation of workers/staff:

 Number of passengers in the vehicle should not exceed 50% of its capacity and shoul
ensure zigzag sitting arrangements.
 Vehicles must be sterilized every day, in particular doors and windows, handles and all
points of contact from inside and outside prior to each trip and after.
 DO NOT disinfect when passenger are in the vehicle.
 Each passenger must follow hand-cleaning measures while using transport.the driver
must disinfect themselves prior to each trip.
 Each vehicle should be provided with a hand-cleaning unit.
 Drivers must wear PPE.
 A special log must be used to document daily information about vehicle numbers and
trips of all vehicles designated for workers' transport from home to factory and
backward.
 The log must include the number of trips, times, and number of passengers of each trip.
 The Transportation coordinator/ COVID-19 task team should ensure follow-up of all
safety procedures.

HR and Administrative major initiatives to reduce risk of COVID-19:

 Allowing all employees to visit in-house doctors for any COVID-19 symptom, sending
workers away from factory premises with paid leave if they have fevers.
 Ensuring social distancing is maintained during visits to the medical room/doctor, and
facilities are disinfected after each worker visits.
 Establishing more hand wash stations throughout the factory with an adequate number
of water tapes and soap to facilitate frequent hand wash.
 Ensuring hand wash items in all the toilets always and encouraging to wash hands very
frequently.
 Divide the lunch/dinner/prayer break into several shifts to avoid the large number of
workers who gather at a time and place the same simultaneously.
 Change the working time to shift work; shift work schedules should take into
consideration of workers with family responsibilities and their availabilities to take on
certain shifts.

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 Depending in safety and security circumstances related to commuting to and from work,
factories should ensure that workers, specifically women workers, are not put at risk of
violence and harassment.
 Change the attendance system of the fingerprint to the use of punch card attendance. If
temporary registers are used, then the pens used should be wiped with hand sanitizers
after each use.
 Ensure each worker carry individual drinking water bottles and maintain gap between
the water tap and bottle.
 Arranging awareness training for all employees could be arranged in smaller groups,
where each member will be able to maintain social distancing during the session.
 Factory can create awareness on COVID-19 symptoms and preventive actions by PA
system or audio clip every couple of hours and during floor meeting so the workers are
encouraged to self-report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
 Provide trainings on appropriate use of PPE (i.e. how to dispose of gloves safely, how to
take on and off masks, how to wash cloth masks)
 Posting awareness poster with several emergency instructions throughout the factory
and distributing leaflet on COVID-19, including information related to health services. If
possible factory should also use social media, SMS, apps for sharing awareness.
 Meeting with PC and Safety Committee (not gathering too many people at a time and
ensuring meetings keep social distance), to encourage them proactively work to prevent
COVID-19.
 Motivating all the employees to maintain personal hygiene in their homes also.
 Forming Emergency Response Team to monitor all ongoing safety initiatives and to deal
any emergency related to COVID-19. The Team should have both women and men
represented, as well as both workers and managers.
 Factory should remove all spittoons and educate workers to use the washroom basin for
spitting.
 The factory should have a screening system for prompt identification system of COVID-
19.
 Prepare a separate room for containment in case of workers are suspected or needed to
consult with in-house medical staff(s). Such quarantine areas needs to be isolated from
the production floors, medical rooms and common areas.
 The employer must restrict the number of personnel entering isolation areas and
protect workers in close contact with (i.e., within six feet of) a sick person or who have
prolonged/repeated contact with such persons by using additional engineering and
administrative controls, safe work practices and PPE.
 The employer must contact COVID-19 hotline numbers for the necessary diagnosis of
the suspected workers.

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  In case any confirmed case is found, the factory should provide leave to the workers and
proper counseling for self-quarantine.
 The employer must inform the relevant authorities (e.g. Department of Labour)
regarding the confirmed cases.

Impacts on Garments workers & Industry due to Covid’19:

 Thousands of garment workers have returned to work across Bangladesh amid the
nationwide COVID-19 shutdown as RMG factories begin to reopen to resume
production, raising concerns over the risk of infection to both workers and
communities.“We went through the media reports and found that more than one
hundred workers have been infected with COVID-19 until now.” Taslima Akhter,
president of “Shramik Sanghati Andolon”, told bdnews24.com.
 Directives by the Bangladesh government stated that garment factories would be
allowed to resume operations if they maintain physical distancing and the ban on public
transportation. But Workers said no physical distancing measures had been enforced
inside the factories. Overcrowded buses were bringing them into work.
 The readymade garment (RMG) industry, which has been pivotal in the economic
growth of Bangladesh, is facing an uncertain future following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The industry, which is the world’s second largest exporter of readymade garment, is
now staring at a loss of nearly $6 billion following the cancellation or suspension of
orders by its buyers.
 The cancellation of orders was the result of the lack of demand from the US and
European markets, following the closure of hundreds of shops, owing to the pandemic-
centric lockdown. RMG exporters have sought the cooperation of the global community
to save the country’s primary industry and the labour force.
 Bangladesh’s RMG sector started facing obstacles much earlier than the world. The
initial challenges were related to sourcing of the raw material following the suspension
of economic activities in China as the virus spread in that country. The industry relies
heavily on China for its raw materials. This is also a significant portion of Bangladesh’s
billion dollars imports from China. The diversification of supply chain and the opening of
the economic activities in China now has resolved the raw materials issue. However,
then came the cancellation of orders, which is now threatening the survival of the
sector.
 According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA), orders for over 900 million pieces of garments worth $2.9 billion had already
been cancelled or were being held up. The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BKMEA), another prominent body of the country’s clothing

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 industry, has claimed that more than $3 billion has already been lost as most of the
orders until July has either been cancelled or suspended.

Conclusion:
Employers and workers in readymade garments and footwear factories should use planning
guidance to help identify risk levels in workplace settings and to determine any appropriate
control measures to implement. Garment Industries improvising their HR policy for the
betterment and safety of the workers who are taking risk for their companies.