Cleaning up the mess: Domestic workers bill tabled in Senate

Proposed Domestic Workers (Employment Rights) Act 2013 offers employment, health benefits and protection from abuse.

ISLAMABAD:

A lawmaker presented a landmark bill in the Senate on Monday – a small move in the upper house, but a big step for upholding human rights in the country.

The bill, to be called Domestic Workers (Employment Rights) Act 2013 after its passage, was drafted a few months ago. The Senate referred it to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for further discussion. The move came after the United Nations sent a recommendation to Pakistan to adopt a child protection policy.



“The passage of this bill will definitely lead Pakistan to ratify Convention No. 189 of International Labour Organisation (ILO), which offers specific protection to domestic workers,” said Senator Osman Saifullah Khan, the mover of the bill.

If Pakistan ratifies this convention, Islamabad will formally make a commitment to implement all the obligations and report to the ILO periodically on the measures taken in this regard.

However, the bill only extends to the federal capital, due to the devolution to the provinces after the promulgation of the 18th amendment. Senator Osman Khan urged the provinces to draft legislation to protect the rights of the 8.5 million informal domestic workers in the country.

If the bill is passed by both the houses, it will give employment rights to maids and domestic workers, ensuring that no one under the age of 14 or above 60 years is working as a ‘servant’. “Workers shall have freedom of work and shall not be employed in employments such as forced/bonded labour, child labour and manual scavenging and in any manner inconsistent with the contract,” reads the bill. “No worker shall be discriminated in recruitment, continuance of employment deciding wages, benefits and other rights on grounds of religion, race, caste, creed, sex, and place of birth/residence/domicile or any other reason.”



The Society For the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) told The Express Tribune that more than 47 cases related to violence against domestic workers were registered from April 2010 to December 2013. “A child had died in at least 16 cases,” said Sparc representative Mohammad Imtiaz Ahmed.

In these extreme cases of violence, 13 girls and three boys lost their lives, he explained. Hundreds of other cases featuring assault and abuse go unreported, he said.

Civil society activist Dr Farzana Bari calls for documentation of the domestic workers sector. Once the sector is documented, laws can be implemented and a mechanism to safeguard the rights of domestic workers can be put in place, she said. Commenting on the proposed bill, she said, “It’s a unique step by parliamentarians. It will give a voice to the voiceless people.”

The proposed bill further reads that every worker shall enter into a written contract with his employer in regard to the terms and conditions of the employment. The employment contract would include specific terms and conditions related to matters such as hours of work, specific nature of work, wages, leave, food, accommodation, suspension, termination, disciplinary proceedings, dispute settlement and healthcare.

Moreover, a female worker would be entitled to maternity benefits with a minimum amount equivalent to three months salary. Every worker shall be entitled to health and medical care, employment injury benefits, group insurance, housing, gratuity, bonus and pension benefits, which shall be paid through the Domestic Workers Welfare Fund, the bill aims to ensure.

It further reads that the workers shall be addressed as “domestic worker”, not “servant”.

According to the proposed legislation, it is the employer’s duty to provide dignified working conditions. It also binds the employer to pay the domestic worker no less than the wages fixed under the Minimum Wage Ordinance 1961.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2014.