SC asks government to initiate process for statutory protection for domestic workers | India News

“Dignity and safety of millions of this essential workforce needs protection”
NEW DELHI: Pained by legislative vacuum in protecting millions of househelps from exploitation, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Union govt to constitute an expert committee to draft a legal framework for safeguarding the dignity and safety of this huge, essential yet unorganized workforce and then enact a pan-India law.
Hinging its decision on a case of torture, exploitation and trafficking of a domestic help in Dehradun which in general is rampant across India, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said, “The simple reason for this harassment and rampant abuse, which seems to be prevalent throughout the country, is the legal vacuum which exists vis-à-vis the rights and protection of domestic workers.”
“Indeed, domestic workers in India remain largely unprotected and without any comprehensive legal recognition. As a result, they frequently endure low wages, unsafe environments, and extended hours without effective recourse,” it said.
Writing the 37-page judgment and analysing the legal position relating to domestic helps in foreign jurisdictions and recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Justice Kant said, “Over and above the absence of any legislation protecting their interests, domestic labourers also find themselves excluded from existing labour laws as well.”
“These, inter alia, include statutes such as the Payment of Wages Act 1936, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, etc,” he said.
SC referred to seven attempts by various governments in the last 66 years, beginning from 1959, for enacting a law to safeguard rights of domestic workers and housemaids, which for a variety of reasons never materialised into tangible laws or policies.
These included Domestic Workers (Condition of Employment) Bill, 1959; The House Workers (Conditions of Service) Bill, 1989; Housemaids and Domestic Workers (Condition of Service and Welfare Bill), 2004; Domestic Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2006; Domestic Workers (Decent Working Conditions) Bill, 2015; Domestic Workers Welfare Bill, 2016; and, Domestic Workers (Regulation of Work and Social Security) Bill, 2017.
Justices Kant and Bhuyan also recorded the recent initiatives to improve legal and social status of domestic workers in India – Code of Wages, 2019, which ensures minimum wages for domestic workers; Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, which brought domestic workers within the ambit of unorganised workers and made them eligible for various benefits such as social security, health insurance, provident fund and maternity benefits; introduction of e-Shram portal in 2021 created a centralized database to register migrant/domestic/unorganised workers to entitle them to welfare schemes. It also said Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala have enacted laws exclusively for domestic workers.
Declining to fill the legislative vacuum through a judicial order, as it did in 1997 Vishaka judgment for protection of women from sexual harassment at workplace, Justice Kant-led bench said, “We have our faith in the Legislature, and elected representatives of the people, to take the imperative steps towards ensuring an equitable and dignified life for domestic workers.”
“We direct the ministries of – labour and employment, social justice and empowerment, women and child development, and law and justice – to jointly constitute a Committee comprising subject experts to consider the desirability of recommending a legal framework for the benefit, protection and regulation of the rights of domestic workers.”
While allowing the Union govt to decide the strength and composition of the committee, the SC asked the panel to submit its report within six months. The govt would then consider the “necessity of introducing a legal framework which may effectively address the cause and concern of domestic workers”, the bench said.