Bhutan’s Department of Labour ordered the national broadcaster, Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), to pay financial compensation to its former Chief Editor of News and Current Affairs, Yeshi Gyaltshen, after an investigation established multiple procedural failures and regulatory breaches during his delayed appointment process. Following an inquiry under the Labour and Employment Act of Bhutan 2007 and the Regulations on Working Conditions 2022, the department directed BBS to pay Gyaltshen backdated salary, allowances, and employment benefit differences under the M2 grade—recalculating his retirement benefits from November 2023 through his resignation in June 2026. Investigators found that BBS kept Gyaltshen as Officiating Chief Editor for a year, far exceeding its six-month internal limit, and advertised the vacancy internally rather than publicly as required by national labor regulations. The non-compliance renders BBS liable to statutory financial penalties for failing to ensure open, fair, and transparent recruitment. While Gyaltshen welcomed the administrative enforcement, he noted that his broader grievances regarding workplace mistreatment, intimidation, and retaliation remain unaddressed, as general workplace harassment falls outside criminal statutes and lacks explicit resolution in the labor department’s immediate orders. Meanwhile, the BBS Board stated that the findings were based solely on initial submissions and urged management to conduct internal reviews before implementing the department’s recommended recruitment and service rule reforms.
