How Are Festival Bonuses Calculated for New and Probationary Employees? Seeking Guidelines

As per our management rules, employees will receive a couple of basic salaries as a festival bonus at the time of festivals. The practice is as follows: for Muslims, one bonus at Eid-ul-Fitr and one at Eid-ul-Azha; for Hindus, at Durga Puja; and for Christians, two bonuses on December 25th.

Eligibility for Festival Bonus

My question is: If someone joins just three days before any festival, or if anyone is in the probation period during any festival, or if anybody has completed their probation period but not completed one year of service in the factory, how is their eligible bonus calculated? This is not specified anywhere.

Hence, if any of you could provide me with a concrete guideline regarding the calculation of payable bonuses for various types of employees, such as management staff, clerical/artisan staff, and laborers, it would help mitigate all these issues related to calculation.

I am eagerly awaiting your reply.

With kind regards

Policy Implementation and Management Consultation

If any management comes out with a rule, and a policy is being drafted regarding the eligibility and other criteria, please go along with that policy to make it simpler. If a policy is not drafted, please do so at the earliest and circulate it to your staff.

Last but not least, speak to the management about your query. If the management is happy to provide the Festival Bonus even to the newcomer, then please follow that. What is the harm?

As per the law, the annual bonus is governed by the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. According to this Act, an employee whose earnings do not exceed Rs.10,000/- is eligible for the payment of the bonus. Payment of the bonus is governed by the formula prescribed in the Act. The other criterion is that a person should have worked for 30 days in an accounting year.

Your query is not clear whether the payment during the festival is in lieu of the Payment of Bonus Act or not. Secondly, if apart from this, you also pay an annual bonus, you can have your own rule.

With regards,
S. Srinivasan.

Understanding One Year of Service in Bangladeshi Factories

In the context of Bangladeshi factories or companies, the term "one year of service" refers to the number of days an employee has worked according to the rules specified in the Bangladesh Labour Law or Factory Act. Could someone provide a brief description of this?

Regards