The State government is planning to enact a piece of legislation for domestic workers to regulate their work, terms of employment and social security.
The draft Bill has been sent to the Law Department for vetting.
Labour Commissioner S. Chithra says it will cover their recruitment and terms of employment.
Contract
The Bill mandates a contract between employers or agencies and domestic workers, even for part-time work. Their working hours should not exceed eight hours and they should be allowed a day off in a week. Pending wages should not exceed a month. For grievance redressal, the Deputy Labour Commissioner can be approached. “Those who fail to comply with the provisions will be penalised,” she says.
To ensure social security of the workers, they will be registered with the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Board. More efforts will be made to increase awareness about registering with the board so that domestic workers could make use of the benefits.
Inspections
The Labour Department will conduct inspections at houses to ensure compliance with the employer-employee contract terms.
To plug worker exploitation by private agencies, contracts between the agencies and workers will become mandatory. The agencies will also need to register with the government, says Ms. Chithra.
