Banks will not pay more than double salary for attending office

The Bangladesh Bank has clarified that bank employees will not be paid more than a month's (basic) salary as a special allowance for working more than 10 days at physical office premises during the shutdown. 

On Tuesday, the central bank issued a circular with this clarification. 

"However, if a banker physically attends the office for more than 10 days due to the duty roster or banks' demand, the bank will provide him with conveyances for the extra days according to their policy," the circular says.

Earlier, the central bank had instructed banks to pay their employees double the monthly basic salary for being present at the workplace for 10 days during the Covid-19 shutdown.

Temporary or contractual officers of banks – those not separately being paid basic salaries – will get 65 percent of their gross salary as a special incentive allowance according to the circular issued on April 12. 

The Bangladesh Bank said, then, employees are risking their lives to keep Bangladesh's economy functional, so they need to get extra payment. 

Employees who were present at the bank for less than 10 days during the holiday will get the special incentive allowance in proportion to the number of days they came to work, maintains the central bank. 

On April 15, the Bangladesh Bank instructed banks to provide up to Tk10 lakh as health insurance coverage to Covid-19-infected bankers. If any bank employee dies from the virus, their family will get a grant of five times higher than the health insurance, according to the circular.

The Bangladesh Bank has instructed banks to provide health insurance coverage of Tk5 lakh to Tk10 lakh for the treatment of bankers if they are infected with Covid-19 while attending office physically during the shutdown. 

The circular further says that the money must be paid by the respective banks within 15 days and the bank will have to bear the full medical costs of the patient.