Placement agencies will help hire domestic help soon

Aimed at ensuring basic rights and better conditions for about 3 crore people in the unorganized sector, the government might come up with a proposal to make it incumbent on households to hire domestic workers through a placement agency.

The new rule might include paid leave and other benefits for those people. If new rules got implemented, the violators could find themselves in a lot of trouble, reported the Economic Times.

Other key elements of the proposal include proper accommodation.

Moreover, if anyone would be hired outside the placement system, he or she would be treated as bonded labour and employers would be penalised accordingly.

The Ministry of Labour would soon move a Cabinet note on a national policy for domestic workers. This idea was first mooted by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2007.

A senior official told the financial daily that the rules if implemented will make the employer liable to pay for the worker's social security apart from one month of paid annual leave, two months of paid maternity leave and a weekly off.

"For the first time, we would have a rights-based policy for domestic workers in the country. It will be a game changer and would help in formalisation of the country's growing workforce," said the official.

As per the proposal, employees and employers will have to sign a contract that lists standard practices which both sides will have to abide by. "The placement agencies involved will be the third party to the agreement besides two representatives from trade unions to ensure that the employee is not denied of his or her basic rights," he said.

The draft agreement, which is being finalised and could be taken up for stakeholder consultation in two weeks, has proposed that the employer will have to mandatorily contribute to the Employee State Insurance Corporation and the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to ensure medical and life coverage to the employee.

(Image: Indiatimes)