Leave policy in Bangladesh

It’s essential for employers to get familiar with leave laws in Bangladesh before hiring and onboarding local talent on their payroll. 

As per the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006, employees are entitled to 14 days of sick leave, earned leave accrued at one day for every 18 days worked, 11 public holidays, and 120 days of maternity leave. 

Below, we walk through each leave policy in Bangladesh in detail. We’ll also cover how a dedicated Employer of Record (EOR) solution supports onboarding, payroll, localized benefits, and time-off management as per leave entitlements in Bangladesh on your behalf.

Vacation & annual leave in Bangladesh

Employees earn one day of annual leave for every 18 days they work in Bangladesh. The accruals only start after employees complete a full year of continuous service. 

In practice, that adds up to somewhere between 18 and 20 earned leave days a year. 

The exact number depends on the industry (shops, factories, and transport businesses each calculate it slightly differently) and how many total days the employee actually worked.

A few rules around paid time off in Bangladesh for employers who aren’t used to this system:

• Unused earned leave rolls over, but only up to 60 days
• If an employee requests leave and the employer turns it down, the 60-day cap no longer applies to that rejected leave
• Earned leave is paid out (encashed) when the employee exits the company

Because accruals depend on attendance records, you need a reliable tracking system. Here is where a workforce management platform helps streamline the process, especially across multiple countries.

Public holidays in Bangladesh

The Labor Act requires every employer to grant at least 11 paid festival holidays per year. The specific dates are fixed by the employer, typically before December 31 of the preceding year.

Employers are required to observe a set of national public holidays, though the exact number of days may vary slightly each year. 

Here’s the list of public holidays in Bangladesh:

• International Mother Language Day
• Independence Day
• Bengali New Year (Pahela Baishakh)
• May Day
• Eid-ul-Fitr
• Eid-ul-Azha
• Buddha Purnima
• Ashura
• Durga Puja
• National Mourning Day
• Victory Day

Eid and Durga Puja dates move each year because they follow lunar calendars. Always cross-check against the government gazette before finalizing your company’s holiday schedule. 

When an employee works on a festival holiday, the employer owes them a substitute day off plus two days’ compensatory wages.

Sick leave in Bangladesh

The entitlement is 14 paid days of sick leave in Bangladesh per calendar year. To claim it, employees need a medical certificate from a registered doctor.

Furthermore, sick days don’t roll over, and they expire on December 31. Therefore, you are obliged to pay for all 14 days directly.

Maternity leave in Bangladesh

Female employees are entitled to 120 days off as maternity leave in Bangladesh. 

Paternity leave in Bangladesh

There’s no paternity leave in Bangladesh under the Labor Act. 

Some companies offer a few days voluntarily, but there’s no legal obligation. The picture is similar in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where statutory paternity leave is either absent or minimal. 

If you want to stand out as an employer in South Asia, offering paid paternity leave sets you apart from most local companies. 

Other types of leave in Bangladesh

You are mandated to extend the following paid time-off in addition to common leave types:

Casual leave

You must grant at least ten days of paid leave per year. It’s meant for sudden illness, family emergencies, or urgent personal matters. However, you are not required to carry forward unused casual leave lapses.

Compensatory time off

If someone works on their weekly rest day, they get an equivalent day off later. That’s separate from the festival holiday compensation rule.

Explore Payoneer Workforce Management in Bangladesh

Between earned leave accrual, festival holiday selection, casual leave tracking, and maternity eligibility checks, managing leave policy in Bangladesh takes real attention. If you’re expanding in the region, it becomes a full-time job.

That’s where an Employer of Record (EOR) comes in handy. 

An EOR like Payoneer Workforce Management helps with onboarding, payroll, and time-off management to navigate leave entitlements and accrual math, as per the Labor Act. Moreover, you don’t carry the additional burden of setting up a local entity.Run the numbers with the Employee Cost Calculator, or book a demo to get started.