Contract Labour Supplier in Bangladesh Under Written Terms
Contract labour supply is the placing of workers on your site under a written agreement between your establishment and a contracting agency that employs them. PayrollBD writes that agreement, issues each worker an appointment letter and identity card, pays the wages and keeps the registers. You direct the work at the site. The Bangladesh Labour Rules 2015 set the duties on both sides.
What is contract labour supply?
Contract labour is labour employed through a contractor. The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 says so in its definition of a worker, which covers a person employed in an establishment either directly or through a contractor. The Labour Rules 2015 call the contractor a contracting agency, an establishment registered under the Act that supplies workers under an agreement. Two parties, one written agreement, and a worker whose employer is the agency. The classes of worker and the industries served are on the labour manpower supply page. The six lines below mark the edges of this one.
Workers employed by PayrollBD, placed on site.
Skilled, semi-skilled and general classes.
Appointment letters and identity cards issued.
Wages and registers held by the agency.
Site supervision and safety under the Act.
No overseas placement, no payroll transfer.
What does the supply agreement cover?
The agreement is the document the Rules keep pointing to. Rule 8(2) lets either party take a breach of its conditions to the licensing authority. Rule 16(5) makes the wage in it a floor for every worker. So the agreement carries the term, the headcount schedule, the rates, the wage floor, the site duties, the notice and the exit.
The table names six clauses with the rule behind each, the paragraph beneath names the texts read, and the three cards name what each part must settle before anyone is deployed.
| Agreement clause | Rule behind it | What the clause fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Wage rate by trade | Rule 16(5) | The rate every worker is paid, never less than the agreement states |
| Minimum wage floor | Rule 16(1) | No wage or allowance at the site below the declared minimum wage |
| Service charge | Rule 8(1) | Paid by the establishment; never taken from a worker without permission |
| Safety schedule | Rules 16(3) and 16(4) | Workplace compliance assured by the agency; liability shared where it is not |
| Register entry | Rule 8(4) | Your establishment recorded in the agency’s Form-5 register |
| Breach of a condition | Rule 8(2) | Either party may apply to the licence-issuing authority |
What must the agreement settle first?
The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, XLII of 2006, is read in the English text hosted by the International Labour Organization: section 2(65) defines a worker as a person employed in an establishment either directly or through a contractor, and section 5 requires a letter of appointment and an identity card with photograph from every employer.
The Bangladesh Labour Rules 2015, gazetted on 15 September 2015, are read in the English translation published by the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation: Rule 7(1) on registration and licence from the Inspector General on Form-77, Rules 8(1) to 8(4) on the licensee, Rules 16(1) to 16(5) on wages, hours and safety, and Rule 17(1) on the Workers Social Welfare Fund. The Inspector General heads the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which the International Labour Organization’s 2020 brief on labour inspection records as responsible for inspecting outsourcing contractors. Reviewed by Eicra Binte Islam, HR Admin, PayrollBD.
Which duties sit on each side?
The Labour Rules 2015 place separate duties on the contracting agency and on the establishment that receives the workers, and one duty on both. The green column lists the agency’s five, each with the rule that creates it. The grey column lists the establishment’s five.
Rule 17(1) adds a sixth for the agency: a Workers Social Welfare Fund bank account within six months of the licence. Every line is a document you can ask to see, and the statutory compliance page covers the registers your own establishment keeps.
The contracting agency
Five duties fall on the agency before and during the supply. They start with the registration and licence from the Inspector General under Rule 7(1), applied for on Form-77, and end with the wage floor in Rule 16(5). Each duty produces a paper.
Ask any supplier, PayrollBD included, to show all five before signing: the licence, a sample appointment letter, a wage sheet, the Form-5 register and the fund account.
The receiving establishment
Five duties sit with your establishment. Wages at the site cannot fall below the minimum wage the Government declares, the workplace must meet the Act on health and safety, and where the agency’s assurance on safety is missing the liability is shared equally.
Your establishment is named in the agency’s Form-5 register of client sites, and a breach of the agreement by either side can be taken to the licensing authority under Rule 8(2).
What does PayrollBD commit to under the agreement?
Four commitments are written into every supply agreement PayrollBD signs, and each is a paper or a date you can check rather than a promise. They cover the papers each worker holds before the first shift, the wage date, the replacement of a worker who leaves, and the way a term ends.
Where a figure or a period belongs in the agreement rather than on a web page, the text says so.
Papers before the first shift
Every worker placed on your site holds an appointment letter from PayrollBD and an identity card with photograph before the first shift, as section 5 of the Act and Rule 8(3) of the Rules require. The letter names the trade, the wage, the class under section 4 and the site.
A copy of each letter is filed with the agreement, so an inspector at your site can be shown the papers without a call to our office.
Wages on the agreed date
Wages are paid by PayrollBD on the date the agreement fixes, at or above the rate it states and never below the minimum wage in force. The wage sheet for your site is available to you each month, so you can see that the rate you pay for reaches the worker it is paid for.
Overtime is recorded and paid as the Act sets, and shown as its own line.
Replacement on notice
A worker who leaves, or whom your supervisor asks to have removed, is replaced on the notice the agreement sets, from the same trade and at the same rate. The notice period is a number in the agreement, not on this page, because it depends on the trade, the site and the headcount.
A replacement holds the same papers before the first shift.
Exit without residue
When the term ends, or notice runs out, the workers are withdrawn on the date set, their dues are settled by PayrollBD as their employer, and the site entry in the Form-5 register is closed. Nothing of the supply remains on your books: no wage arrears, no unpaid leave, no pending separation.
If you want to hire a worker directly afterwards, the agreement says how that is done.
How does a supply agreement start?
Eight steps run from the first enquiry to the monthly routine. The first three produce the agreement. The next three put papers in the workers’ hands and rules on the site before anyone starts. The last two are the monthly cycle of wages and reporting that keeps the supply lawful for as long as the term runs.
The three boxes hold the steps in that order. If the workers you need are your own casual or temporary staff rather than supplied labour, the contingent workforce page covers them.
What gets asked before a supply agreement?
Four questions come before nearly every agreement: whether contract labour is lawful here, who the employer is, what the rate includes, and how to check a supplier before signing. Each answer below names the rule or the section it rests on.
Where the answer is a figure that belongs in the agreement, the answer says so instead of quoting one that would not hold for every site.
Four answers, each with its rule
Each answer opens with the position and then gives its basis in the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 or the Labour Rules 2015, both read for this page in the English texts named in the source paragraph above.
The one honest limitation is stated as plainly as the rest: this page places workers employed by the agency, and it does not move anyone onto your own payroll. The recruitment drive page does that.
Is contract labour legal in Bangladesh?
Yes, within the framework the law sets. The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 defines a worker to include a person employed in an establishment either directly or through a contractor.
The Labour Rules 2015 then regulate the contractor as a contracting agency: registration and a licence from the Inspector General under Rule 7(1), an appointment letter with no condition below the Act under Rule 8(3), and wages, hours, leave and overtime under the Act by Rule 16(2). Contract labour supplied outside that framework is where the risk sits.
Who is the employer of a contract worker?
The contracting agency is. Rule 8(3) speaks of the appointment letter between the worker and the contracting agency, and section 5 of the Act requires that letter and an identity card from the employer. Under a PayrollBD agreement, PayrollBD issues both, pays the wages and holds the personnel file.
Your establishment directs the work on site and carries the health and safety duty that Rules 16(3) and 16(4) place at the workplace. If you want a worker on your own payroll instead, the recruitment drive page describes that route.
What does the contract labour rate include?
Three lines, shown separately on the invoice. The first is the wage for the trade, which Rule 16(1) keeps at or above the minimum wage and Rule 16(5) keeps at or above the rate in the agreement. The second is the statutory cost that follows the wage.
The third is the agency’s service charge, which Rule 8(1) bars the agency from taking from any worker without the Inspector General’s permission. No figure sits on this page, because the wage line depends on the trade, the site and the headcount.
How do we check a supplier before signing?
Ask for five papers, from any supplier and from PayrollBD alike. The registration and licence issued by the Inspector General under Rule 7(1). A sample appointment letter, to compare its terms against the Act as Rule 8(3) requires. A wage sheet from a current site, to see the rate and the date.
The Form-5 register of establishments supplied, kept under Rule 8(4). And the Workers Social Welfare Fund account that Rule 17(1) requires within six months of the licence. A supplier who cannot produce one of the five is telling you something.
See the agreement before anyone is placed
Send the site, the trades, the headcount by month and the shift pattern. We come back with a draft agreement covering the term, the rates by trade, the notice, the safety schedule and the papers each side will exchange, before any worker is selected.
If your need is workers on your own payroll, or a single vacancy, we say so in the same reply and point you to the right page.