TOI : You may have to give off-day to your maid : Sept 12, 2007
You may have to give off-day to your maid
Women’s Panel Also Proposes An 8-Hour Day For Domestics
Himanshi Dhawan | TNN
New Delhi: For those who are slaves to their domestic helps, this is
unlikely to bring cheer. If the National Commission for Women has its way,
you may soon have to extend the courtesy of an eight-hour work day and a
weekly off to your domestic help.
The NCW is considering a set of rules to govern domestic workers that
will ensure a minimum wage and reasonable hours of work following complaints
of exploitation, trafficking and abuse. A draft law governing domestic
workers’ rights is also on the anvil.
“We are looking at the minimum wage and work hours prescribed in the
organised sector as a model. Our recommendations are likely to be finalised
by the month-end,” NCW member Malini Bhattacharya said.
It is, however, unclear how these stipulations will be implemented,
especially in the case of live-in helps who are expected to be at hand for
24 hours even though they may not actually be working all the time. The
equations are severely loaded in favour of employers outside the metros, and
not many domestic helps may step forward to complain the violation of law if
one is indeed enacted.
NGOs working in the field say that legislating such policies are fraught
with problems. A case in point is the rampant use of children below 14 years
as domestic helps despite a labour ministry law that bans child labour in
homes.
In the big cities, however, a law along the lines of what the NCW has in
mind may have the effect of improving the working conditions because
domestic helps are in any case scarce and have been able to better their
deal over the years.
Other recommendations include setting up of a monitoring agency to keep
tab on unscrupulous placement agencies and recruitment. In fact, rampant
exploitation of domestic helps sourced from poor states like Jharkhand,
Bihar and West Bengal appear to be the trigger for this set of
recommendations.
In a nationwide study conducted by the commission, it was found that
placement agencies brought migrant workers from poor regions to metros.
“These women are either purchased from their families or relatives or
brought under false pretext. They are then put through sub-human conditions,”
Bhattacharya said.
Registration of placement agencies with a monitoring authority is likely
to be made mandatory. Sources said this would ensure that agencies are
subject to verification. The placement agency will also be required to keep
names and addresses of employers and employees. A contract system will be
put in place so that terms and conditions are clearly laid out.
“Domestic workers will have a forum to complain to with the setting up
of a monitoring authority,” Bhattacharya said.
LABOUR DAY
Weekly offs and an eighthour work day proposed for domestic helps
NCW’s proposals to ensure minimum wages and reasonable work hours follow
reports of exploitation
It is unclear how the proposals will be implemented, especially in the
case of live-in helps