Kerala Govt To Table Bill Securing Rights Of Domestic Workers And Home Nurses

The Kerala government has drafted a Bill, the Domestic Workers (Regulation and Welfare) Act for securing the rights of domestic workers and home nurses. 

The bill is likely to be tabled before the state assembly soon and will provide a host of rights and benefits to domestic workers enumerated below: 

Every domestic worker shall have the right to— (a) work and earn a livelihood, free from all forms of forced or compulsory labour; 

(b) Earn such minimum wages, as may be prescribed, including allowances for overtime;  

(c) Such decent working and living conditions, as may be prescribed, including reasonable working hours, periods of rest, annual paid leave and maternity leave, as the case may be; 

(d) Access to benefits under social security schemes of the appropriate Government; 

(e) Redressal of grievances through such appropriate mechanism as may be prescribed

(f) Organise and bargain collectively through associations, co-operatives, and/ or unions of workers; 

(g) Equal opportunities of employment and remuneration without discrimination based on gender, age, caste or any other criteria that may be deemed discriminatory by the court of law

(h) Education and opportunities to participate in further education and vocational training for domestic workers under this Act, who are above the minimum age for domestic work and below the age of eighteen years.

With the Kerala government taking a unique step towards job security of domestic workers, will other states follow footsteps or will they come up with their own version of a bill to protect the rights of domestic workers? 

Time will tell.