Chevron employees one step closer to getting their dues

The High Court yesterday directed the government to block the amount equivalent to Chevron Bangladesh's employees' Workers Profit Participation Fund (WPPF) as it apprehends the American energy giant might leave the country without paying the sum.

The development comes after 538 employees of Chevron Bangladesh filed a writ petition with the HC asking it to order the government to intervene in to the matter on their behalf.

As per the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006, any company with a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 1 crore or immoveable assets worth minimum Tk 2 crore will have to pay 5 percent of its net profits into a WPPF.

The Chevron Bangladesh employees are owed about $76 million from the WPPF between 2006 and 2013, said Omar Sadat, the petitioners' lawyer.

The labour law permits the government to take legal action against the company for not paying its employees the due amount from the WPPF -- and the Chevron workers wanted to invoke this clause by filing the writ petition.

Subsequently, the bench of Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo came up with the order yesterday in favour of the 538 Chevron employees.

The American energy giant is expected to leave Bangladesh anytime as it has no fixed asset in the country, and the transfer of its share to Xhenhua, a Chinese company, is now under process, Sadat said.

If Chevron leaves Bangladesh by selling its shares, the employees will not get their due payments under the WPPF. The HC will decide in its final verdict how the employees of Chevron will get the due funds as a rule is pending before it.