Will employing domestic help soon be restricted to wealthy households in the Dominican Republic? A bill in Congress could impose extended labor legalities that currently only apply to businesses and organizations on households, making it too costly for most households to hire help. In the Dominican Republic the domestic workers sector is loosely regulated and remains largely part of the informal economy, while at the same time being one of the largest sources of employment, if not the largest. The availability of household help is the result of a large number of unskilled people, especially women, without work, and even middle class and lower income families have been able to afford to employ them. Help at home is a key factor in enabling hundreds of thousands of Dominican women to work outside the home.
But if passed, a minimum wage would be established for household help, and not the present informally agreed wages. Written contracts would be obligatory.
Already passed in the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, now is studying the bill that would make working conditions under the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers legally binding. The convention was passed in 2011 and enters into effect in September 2013. It seeks to enforce global standards for domestic help.
If it is approved for the Dominican Republic, domestic workers would see an improvement in their working conditions, but it could have a chilling effect on jobs. Many could find themselves out of work and others could find it difficult to find a job in a household. Convention 189 covers workers employed in tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing and ironing clothes, taking care of children, or elderly or sick members of a family, gardening, guarding the house, driving for the family, even taking care of household pets. It covers full-time or part-time work.
Maids working in Dominican homes make between RD$3,000 and RD$20,000 a month, with an average of RD$5,000. Employers often cover the cost of extras such as transport and meals, medical needs and provide accommodation.
Convention 189 would order the payment of overtime. Labor Code establishes that domestic workers should enjoy an uninterrupted rest of at least nine hours between their work shifts.
Household help in the DR get two weeks of paid vacation, the Christmas salary and permission to study and attend health centers in case of an emergency. But maids are discriminated against in terms of maternity pay and protection and social security benefits, such as health care are not obligatory.
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—asia/—ro-bangkok/documents/genericdocument/wcms_208561.pdf
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_173363.pdf