Hundreds of workers across the country are facing prolonged delays in securing justice as labour courts and the Labour Appellate Tribunal grapple with a mounting backlog of more than 27,500 cases, raising concerns over access to timely legal redress.
The numbers of pending cases with labour courts increased by 5,500 to 27,546 as of March this year, against 21,891 pending cases in the same month in 2025, according to official data.
As litigants often have to spend years on court premises to get justice, their loss of jobs, earnings, time and energy continues to take a toll on their lives.
‘Workers are first victimised at their workplaces and then victimised again when they go to the labour courts to seek justice. Delay in trial process is the reason,’ National Garment Workers’ Federation president Amirul Haque Amin said.
He alleged that labour court judges often do not hold proceedings on time and attend court proceedings at their convenience, contributing to the growing backlog.
Amirul urged the authorities to ensure that labour court proceedings start on time every day, like other courts, to reduce case congestion.
The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 stipulates that cases in labour courts should be disposed of within 60 days, extendable by another 90 days with valid reasons. However, hardly any case is settled within the stipulated 150 days.
Workers across sectors suffer not only due to excessive delays but also because their employers, taking advantage of legal loopholes, often avoid complying with court verdicts.
According to Labour Appellate Tribunal data, 27,546 cases are currently pending with 13 labour courts and the lone appellate tribunal. Of them, 13,833 cases have been pending for more than six months.
Among the pending cases, 1,023 are with the appellate tribunal, 4,493 with the Dhaka First Labour Court, 6,998 with the Dhaka Second Labour Court, and 3,159 with the Dhaka Third Labour Court.
Besides, 1,670 cases are pending with the Chattogram First Labour Court, 869 with the Chattogram Second Labour Court, 164 with the Khulna Labour Court, 85 with the Rajshahi Labour Court, 102 with the Rangpur Labour Court, 64 with the Sylhet Labour Court, and 68 with the Barishal Labour Court.
A total of 2,815 cases are pending with the Narayanganj Labour Court, 326 with the Cumilla Labour Court, and 6,230 with the Gazipur Labour Court.
Apart from the existing 13 courts, the government has set up a new labour court in Mymensingh earlier this year to ease the pressure.
Labour Appellate Tribunal registrar Hedaytul Islam said that efforts were underway to dispose of cases as quickly as possible.
He said that the backlog was longstanding and that the new court in Mymensingh was established to reduce workers’ sufferings.
On May 5, 2017, Abdur Rahman of Vangura village in Pabna filed a case against Power Vantage Wear Ltd seeking dues of Tk 3,18,353.
Nine years later, the case remains pending with the Dhaka Third Labour Court as the deposition in the case is yet to be completed, said Abdur Rahman, expressing disappointment over the long delay.
Abdul Malek, a warehouse worker at United Commercial Bank Limited, filed a case on March 30, 2014 with the Dhaka First Labour Court alleging that the bank did not issue him an appointment letter.
Although the court delivered a verdict in his favour in 2022, the case remains unresolved as the bank filed a miscellaneous case challenging the verdict.
‘More than 12 years have passed but my case is yet to be settled,’ Malek said on Thursday, expressing frustration. ‘I do not know when the case will be disposed of.’
He alleged that the defendant repeatedly seeks time without appearing before the court. ‘I applied for a one-sided verdict, but that was also not allowed,’ he added.
Court officials said that most cases originate from the apparel sector and involve disputes over layoffs, dismissals, retrenchments, non-payment or delayed payment of wages and benefits, workplace injury compensation, and violations of trade union rights.
Officials and lawyers said that cases remain stuck for years mainly due to repeated time petitions filed by employers’ lawyers, frequent absence of labour court members, and writ petitions filed with higher courts challenging lower court verdicts.
A labour court consists of a chairman and two members, one representing workers and the other representing employers.
For workers seeking justice, attending court hearings often comes at a heavy cost, as they need to take leave, often unpaid, from their jobs, according to several affected workers.
They also alleged that even after favourable verdicts, many employers disregard court orders without filing appeals.
