Your rights

You & your domestic/ 'madam'

Are you a domestic worker unsure of your rights? Or an employer or prospective employer unsure of your obligations to your domestic worker? Minimum wages, working conditions, employment contracts ... here's a quick guide to the new Domestic Workers Act, plus all the links you need to find out more.

A huge chunk of the South African workforce - an estimated one million people - is made up of domestic workers. In many cities, almost every home has "domestic quarters" in the yard or garden.

Maids or domestics are an integral feature of the South African landscape, as is the "maids and madams" relationship so successfully satirised in the world-famous cartoon, Madam and Eve. In the cartoon, the traditional power balance in the maid/madam relationship is turned upside down: Eve, the domestic worker, has her "Madam" firmly under her thumb.

In reality, the situation is usually very different. For years, domestic workers have been among the most exploited of all workers - labouring long hours for meagre pay, often on the receiving end of abuse by their employers.

In recent years, significant steps have been taken to improve their situation: a minimum wage has been set, specific working conditions have been laid down, and other measures have been put in place to regulate a previously unregulated industry. Steps are also being taken to train domestic workers and give them formal recognition for their skills.

What both employers & domestics should know

To whom does the Domestic Workers Act apply?
To the estimated 1 to 1.5 million workers in the country who work as domestics, gardeners, childminders (including drivers of children) and those who look after the sick, aged or disabled in private homes. The legislation also covers domestic workers who work as independent contractors.

What is the Act all about?
The Act sets out minimum wages for domestics and specifies working conditions such as hours of work, overtime pay, salary increases, deductions, annual and sick leave.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration’s South African Labour Guide provides a summary of the salient aspects of the legislation.
For the legislation in full, check out Sectoral Determination 7 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act on the The Department of Labour web site.

This legislation also lists the urban areas (classified as A Areas) where one minimum wage applies. A second minimum wage applies to domestic workers in non-urban areas (B Areas). In urban areas, the minimum wage is around 20% more than in non-urban areas.

What is the minimum wage?
Those working in designated non-urban areas for 27 hours or less a week should receive R614.25 per month or an hourly rate of R4.51. Those in listed urban areas working more than 27 hours a week should receive R800 per month or R4.10 per hour.

The new law setting down a minimum wage came into effect on 1 September 2002, but employers had until 1 November to make the necessary adjustments. According to the legislation, domestic workers must receive an annual increase of 8%, implemented from 1 November 2002.

What else do I need to know?
According to the legislation, domestics should work no more than 45 hours a week, and should not work more than nine hours a day if they work a five-day week, or more than eight hours a day if they work for more than five days a week.

Domestics should work no more than 15 hours a week overtime, and no more than three hours on any one day. They should also receive double pay on Sundays or public holidays.

Employers whose domestics live on the property may deduct 10% of their salary for accommodation, providing the accommodation complies with the minimum standards laid down in the legislation.

An employer wishing to dismiss a worker must give a week of notice if the domestic has been employed for six months or lessl and four weeks' notice if he or she has worked for more than six months.

Domestics are also entitled to severance pay of one week for each year of service, as well as four months' unpaid maternity leave.

All employers must register their employees for the unemployment insurance fund, and are advised to sign an employment contract with their domestic worker.

Where can I get hold of an employment contract and forms for UIF?
The Department of Labour has an online Domestic Workers Toolkit where contracts can be downloaded in English or Afrikaans.

Certificates of Service can also be downloaded. These must be filled out by the employer for a departing employee as a record of their employment history.

To get the contract directly, click here.

For a detailed contract which contains a list of duties (for ticking where applicable), go to the relevant South African Labour Guide page.

Is there a union for domestic workers?
Yes, there is - the South African Domestic Workers' Union, which has around 4 500 members. The union is affiliated to the country's biggest labour federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

Can domestic workers receive training to upgrade their skills?
Yes. This year a massive training project, the Domestic Workers Skills Development Project, was launched. Financed by the Department of Labour's National Skills Fund to the tune of R120-million, the project aims to train 27 000 domestic workers around the country over the next three years. Trainees will receive formal recognition for their skills.

The training is being overseen by the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta), which has set up a discrete chamber for domestic services, based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

According to a press release put out by the organisation, "Because of the centrality of domestic workers to the lives of ordinary South Africans, and the nature of the domestic services industry - hitherto described as the Cinderella industry - this is the one project that will affect every South African household. As such it becomes a social development project with a strong gender focus as well."