Comparison Between Old and New Policy Domestic Workers

8/10/2019 Comparison Between Old and New Policy Domestic Workers

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Major Points of Difference between Old and New Policy for Domestic Workers

OLD POLICY NEW POLICY

Normal hours of work, including

compensation for overtime, and suitable daily

and weekly rest periods, Paid annual leave andsick leave;

Not incorporated in the

New Policy

The Trade Union Act,1!"; The #aternity

$enefit Act,1"1; The %ontract &abour

Act,1'(


New Policy

Promoting the rights of domestic workers to

organi)e, form their own associations or *oin

an organisation of their choosing;


New Policy

The %entral +overnment in collaboration withworkers organi)ations and organi)ations of

domestic workers shall identify and eliminate

any legislative or administrative restrictions or

other obstacles to the right of domestic

workers to establish their own organi)ations or

to *oin the workers organi)ations of their own

choosing and to the right of organi)ations of

domestic workers to *oin workers

organi)ations, federations and confederations-

Not incorporated in theNew Policy

The schemes and benefits as are available or

will be available to other categories of workers

would be available to domestic workers


New Policy

Te !eat"res of te New Policy


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1- The .ld National Policy was amended to focus on welfare ,social

security, and safety measures, leaving the scope for right to organi)e and

collective bargaining ,etc to be taken up at a later stage-

!- New Policy Proposal focuses on measures to ensure that domestic

workers are protected from e/ploitation, se/ual abuse and from any form of

discrimination at workplace- $esides, the policy provides for social security

benefits to them-

0- The Policy will promote domestic workers rights by bringing them within

the purview of labour laws like

The workmens %ompensation Act 1!0, The Payment of 2ages Act 10",

The #inimum 2ages Act 134,

The 56ual 7emuneration Act 1'",

The 8nter9:tate #igrant 2orkmen 7egulation of 5mployment programmes

may reach to domestic

:uggestion will be

considered by N&8% while

preparing the guidelines-


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workers also-

ii= ?omestic 2orkersmay be facilitated to

form self9help

groups>federations so

that they are providedbenefits under Urban

Poverty Alleviationprograms such as

NU, etc-

iii= National Policy for

?omestic 2orkersmay emphasis on

facilitation for

financial inclusion ofthe ?omestic 2orkers

and also for providingfor other financialservices to domestic

workers

@- Planning

%ommission

i= The Trade Union Act,

1!", the #aternity

$enefit Act, 1"1 and the

%ontract labour 7egulation and

Abolition= Act, 1'( are

proposed to be e/cluded

from the formulation ofthe National Policy for

?omestic 2orkers- As aresult, the right of

domestic workers under

the revised policy will not

include i= right tocollective bargaining, ii=

right to normal hours of

work includingcompensation for

overtime and suitable

daily and weeklyincluding compensation

for overtime and suitable

daily and weekly restperiods, iii= paid annual

leave and sick leave iv=

maternity benefit- $y

e/cluding these rights, thebill becomes less

:trengthening of

provisions in regard to

rights of domestic workers

could be considered at alater stage-

?etailed mechanism for

implementation of thePolicy will be worked out


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effective-

ii= The mechanism for implementation of the

policy at the ground level

is not clear- The details of

the :tate and ?istrict levelmachinery that is re6uired

for registration of domestic workers,

facilitating regulation of

work, collection of

contribution for socialprotection, providing

suitable access to

grievance redressal, etc- isnot elucidated in the Note-

#oreover, no financialimplications are workedout for implementing the

policy as was done in the

earlier note-

once the Policy is

approved-

"- ?epartment of

inancial:ervices,

#inistry of

inance

?omestic workers are getting

covered for life9cum9disabilityinsurance under Aam Admi $ima

Bo*ana being administered by

?epartment of inancial

:ervices-

Noted

'- #inistry of 7ural

?evelopment

i= 8n the case of live inworkers, access to

housing and food and

provision for leisure>free

time and holidays alsomay be seen as part of the

right to fair employment-

ii= The 8mplementation%ommittee proposed in

the draft policy document

may be e/panded toinclude representation

from N7- N7

%$.s would be engagingwith issues of safe

migration, including

information

dissemination, trackingand facilitation for skill

development-

The suggestions will beconsidered by N&8% while

preparing the guidelines-


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iii= The scope for

convergence with theAnti9Euman Trafficking

institutional mechanisms

that have been set up in

all states may also bee/plored-

iv= : 0-1 clarifies that thedefinition of domestic

worker does not include

any member of the family

of the employer, whetherthe %ensus definition of

family is taken may be

further clarified- 8t mayalso specify that Jperson

does not include Jchild-v= 8n the case of the live9inworker, whether the

provisions of the Policy

would e/tend to memberincluding minors= of the

family of the live in

worker may also be

clarified-vi= The 7ight to fair terms of

employment s 3-0= may

cover the duration ofwork as well-

vii= The right to information

s 3-3= for overseasworkers may be e/tended

to migrant domestic

worker within the country

as well, and provision forinformation centers that

could counsel on right and

duties of the worker andthe obligations of the

placement agencies and

employers beincorporated-

viii= : @-" may be e/tended to

cover P78s as well, and toinclude Pro*ect

implementation agencies

training service

providers= under :kill


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?evelopment as

instruments generation-

4- ?epartment of

5/penditure,#inistry of

inance

i= This is essentially a :tate

sub*ect and the need fornational legislation is not

clear- $esides, there islikely to be oppositionfrom :tate to a national

legislation-

ii= The policy may be re9

e/amined so that the

proposal is accordancewith the e/isting

legislation-

iii= They have apprehendedabout the difficulty of

identifying domestic

workers due to their highmobility, impermanence

and amorphous nature of

work, as also the fact that

one domestic workercould be time sharing

between a number of

households as well as

*obs, and also thatdifferent domestic

workers may be havingdifferent level of skills-

iv= The need to have a

separate implementation

mechanism specificallyfor Jdomestic worker in

the form of National

&evel 8mplementation%ommittee N&8%= for

undertaking similar

functions is not supported-The National $oard,

established under the

Unorganised 2orkers:ocial :ecurity Act of

!((4, could be entrusted

to perform the function of

the proposed N&8%-urther, the

5mployment, :ocial

security etc-are covered in5ntry No- !09!3 of the

concurrent list- Theproposal is for NationalPolicy for ?omestic

2orkers and not

legislation-

No specific point raised

about conflict with e/istinglegislations-

?etailed guidelines will be

issued by N&8%-

The implementation

mechanism is a tripartite

structure under e/isting

financial arrangements,Therefore, no additional

e/penditure is re6uired for

implementation of thepolicy-


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implementation

machinery notified underthe Unorgani)ed 2orker

:ocial :ecurity Act !((4

may be serviced by>from

within the e/istingmanpower available with

the #inistry or itsattached>subordinate

offices-

v= 7:$B cannot be e/tended

to new categories withoutsuitable evaluation-

The %abinet has already

approved e/tension of7:$B to ?omestic

workers-

- #inistry of :ocial Dustice

and

5mpowerment

No %omments Noted

1(- #inistry of

2omen and%hild

?evelopment-

:upports the proposed National

Policy for ?omestic 2orkers-

Noted

11- #inistry of Tribal Affairs

i= The proposed policyshould look at the

protection of males as

well as female domesticworkers-

ii= The Policy should have an

appropriate chapter on HApplicability to

:cheduled Tribes and

:cheduled Areas underifth and :i/th :cheduleI

for highlighting focus on

:cheduled Tribes and

:cheduled>Tribes areas toachieve the goal of

inclusiveness- The policy

ought to include the

welfare and health caremeasure for the domestic

workers by including thenunder schemes of the

+overnment- The policy

ought to encompass

safeguarding rights of :Tdomestic workers

particularly women-

iii= The :%>:T Prevention of

:uitable +uidelines willbe prepared by the

National &evel

8mplementation %ommitteeN&8%= after considering

these suggestions-


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Atrocities Act may also be

included along9side otherlegislations suggested in

the policy-

iv= 8nfrastructural facilities

for migrating populationlike working hostels in

cities-v= ?omestic workers of the

:T communities are

e/tremely vulnerable in

the unfamiliar urbansetting to which they

migrate for work- Eence,

to address thevulnerabilities, the policy

may include provisions toaddress these issues attheir place of origin-

vi= 8n :chedule K and North

5astern 7egion the :tateTribal 2elfare

?epartment must be a

apart of proposed

tripartite mechanism atthe :tate level, to take

care that :T specific

issues are considered-vii= The registration, proposed

in the policy should

ideally be undertaken atthe place of origin and

then be accessible at all

registration officers

throughout for updation-viii= The database in all

cities>:tates must be

compatible with eachother so that migrant

workers interests are

protected and they do nothave to go in for re9

registration at various

places of employment-i/= :tates with heavy outflow

of people for domestic

work must involve P78s

and +ram :abhas in


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information dissemination

in relevant laws andpractice codes in local

language-

/= To facilitates migrant :T

workers portability ofidentity documents such

as 7ation %ards, Koters%ards, Aadhar etc- could

also be looked into-

1!- #inistry of :tatistics and

Programme

8mplementation

:uitable mechanism to collectre6uisite data>information on

various aspects of ?omestic

2orkers inter9alia, including theirnumber Urban>7ural;

#ale>emale= at National and

:tate level, 7egistered ?omestic2orkers, their age, number of

hours they work, their wages,

coverage under social security>welfare measures etc- may be

emphasi)ed- #inistry of :tatistics

< Programme 8mplementation

can provide all technicalassistance>support in this regard-

This will be consideredwhile preparing suitable

guidelines by the National

&evel 8mplementation%ommittee N&8%=-

Comparison Between Old and New Policy Domestic Workers

Documents

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