How much do you pay a woman who dresses, feeds and comforts your children daily, cooks your meals, washes your clothes and cleans your house?
The Department of Labour has helped many answer that conundrum by putting in place a new domestic worker minimum wage, which is subject to an annual increase.
The minimum wage is applicable not only to domestic workers but includes housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and domestic drivers too.
For 2017, domestic workers in Area A who work more than 27 ordinary hours a week are to be paid a minimum hourly rate of R12.42, a weekly rate of R559.09 and a monthly wage of R2422.54.
This is an 8.6% increase from last year’s R11.44 per hour, R514.82 per week with a monthly rate of R2230.70.
For Area B, the hourly rate for 2017 is now R11.31, amounting to R508.93 a week and R2205.16 a month.
For 2016, the rate stood at R10.23 an hour, R460.15 a week and R1993.82 per month.
Area A is defined as those areas falling within the metropolitan municipalities.
Area B refers to townships and rural areas.
Explaining the need for a minimum wage, acting Department of Labour spokesperson Mokgadi Pela said this guideline had been established 10 years ago in an effort to assist domestic workers earn a decent living wage and avoid exploitation by employers.
According to Pela, the department has also put guidelines in place which deal with the proper working hours, the general working conditions and leave issues.
Despite this information being made public, Pela said they were still dealing with many complaints which arose as a result of these laws being flouted.
“We decided to intervene when it comes to domestic workers because they form part of the vulnerable groups in society,” Pela said.
“Many were getting paid very little and they and their families were living well below the bread line. Some domestics could not afford to support their families or even sustain their employment as they were spending most of their salaries on transport.
“The minimum wage will help employers know what they should be paying their domestics.
“When we determine the minimum wage we take into consideration things such as the inflation rate and the Consumer Price Index.”
Pela explained that the only deductions employers are allowed to make to their domestics’ payslip is 10% for accommodation for live-in domestics, as outlined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, plus 1% towards the monthly Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) premium.
“That’s it, nothing more. But we still get employers who illegally deduct monies for water and electricity costs and food, which is against the law.
“Employers are also required to provide their domestics with a payslip.
“We speak to too many domestic employees who complain that they don’t get a payslip.
“These are the common areas which we are called to intervene in,” he said.
National domestic worker union the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union say the minimum wage is still not enough for anyone to live off.
Secretary Myrtle Witbooi said the minimum should be set at R3500 per month, a recommendation they have made to the labour minister numerous times.
According to Witbooi, when properly analysed, the annual increase to the minimum wage amounts to about R80 a year, which she described as pathetic.
She explained: “When you look at things like rent, food and transport costs, this minimum wage is not enough to survive on at all. However, we are grateful that there is a minimum wage at all but we feel that it doesn’t have a big effect on the life of the domestic worker in this country.
“Even now, if you go to shopping malls you will find domestic workers in loan shark offices looking for money for back-to-school items for their children because there are those employers who fail to provide even that minimum amount.”
When asked how much they pay their domestics, some Daily Dispatch readers said not only do they provide a monthly salary, but some go above and beyond in an effort to increase the standards of their domestics’ home life as well.
David Radue said the domestic who had worked for his parents received a monthly salary for a four-day week of R2000 with UIF and was also presented with a newly-built house.
“My parents had a house built for her in Newlands just outside of East London. She worked four days a week, got transport money plus just under R2000 a month,” he said.
“She was part of our family and has just retired. She was a pleasure to be around and will be missed.”
Olive Jacobs said her domestic worker, who has been working with her for 20 years, not only received a salary well above the recommended minimum for three days of work per week but she also paid for her children’s education.
“I put all her kids through school, the last one in a former model C school,” she said.
With regards to working hours, the labour department released a set of prescribed guidelines which state that domestic workers cannot be made to work more than 45 hours a week, work more than nine hours a day for a five-day work week and work more than eight hours a day for a six-day work week.
This does not include time taken for lunch.
The guidelines also state that a domestic worker may not work more than 15 hours of overtime per week and that overtime must be paid at one-and-a-half times the employee’s normal wage or they should receive paid time off in lieu of overtime worked.
Domestics are also to get a daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours and a weekly rest period of 36 consecutive hours which must include Sunday.
“The daily rest period may, by agreement, be reduced to 10 hours for an employee who lives on the premises whose meal interval lasts for at least three hours,” the guidelines read.
“The weekly rest period may by agreement be extended to 60 consecutive hours every two weeks or be reduced to eight hours in any week if the rest period in the following week is extended equivalently.”
Witbooi said they dealt with too many complaints regarding working hours.
“Many domestics complain that they’re forced to work seven days a week with absolutely no time off, with some saying they are not even allowed to take a few hours off to go to church.
“This week the children are going back to school and many employees won’t give them time to prepare for their children despite the fact that these women are parents too,” she said, adding that other complaints include employers who refuse to register their domestics on UIF, as well as employees who hire domestic workers on a full time, live-in basis but provide very little in the way of a daily meal.
Pela urged all domestics experiencing difficulties with their employers to visit one of their over 300 centres situated across the country to lay a formal complaint.
“Domestic workers are often the pillar of the households where they work and it’s very sad that they are the most underpaid workers in South Africa,” Witbooi concluded. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
Tiny increase in pay for domestic workers
The Department of Labour has helped many answer that conundrum by putting in place a new domestic worker minimum wage, which is subject to an annual increase.
The minimum wage is applicable not only to domestic workers but includes housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and domestic drivers too.
For 2017, domestic workers in Area A who work more than 27 ordinary hours a week are to be paid a minimum hourly rate of R12.42, a weekly rate of R559.09 and a monthly wage of R2422.54.
This is an 8.6% increase from last year’s R11.44 per hour, R514.82 per week with a monthly rate of R2230.70.
For Area B, the hourly rate for 2017 is now R11.31, amounting to R508.93 a week and R2205.16 a month.
For 2016, the rate stood at R10.23 an hour, R460.15 a week and R1993.82 per month.
Area A is defined as those areas falling within the metropolitan municipalities.
Area B refers to townships and rural areas.
Explaining the need for a minimum wage, acting Department of Labour spokesperson Mokgadi Pela said this guideline had been established 10 years ago in an effort to assist domestic workers earn a decent living wage and avoid exploitation by employers.
According to Pela, the department has also put guidelines in place which deal with the proper working hours, the general working conditions and leave issues.
Despite this information being made public, Pela said they were still dealing with many complaints which arose as a result of these laws being flouted.
“We decided to intervene when it comes to domestic workers because they form part of the vulnerable groups in society,” Pela said.
“Many were getting paid very little and they and their families were living well below the bread line. Some domestics could not afford to support their families or even sustain their employment as they were spending most of their salaries on transport.
“The minimum wage will help employers know what they should be paying their domestics.
“When we determine the minimum wage we take into consideration things such as the inflation rate and the Consumer Price Index.”
Pela explained that the only deductions employers are allowed to make to their domestics’ payslip is 10% for accommodation for live-in domestics, as outlined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, plus 1% towards the monthly Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) premium.
“That’s it, nothing more. But we still get employers who illegally deduct monies for water and electricity costs and food, which is against the law.
“Employers are also required to provide their domestics with a payslip.
“We speak to too many domestic employees who complain that they don’t get a payslip.
“These are the common areas which we are called to intervene in,” he said.
National domestic worker union the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union say the minimum wage is still not enough for anyone to live off.
Secretary Myrtle Witbooi said the minimum should be set at R3500 per month, a recommendation they have made to the labour minister numerous times.
According to Witbooi, when properly analysed, the annual increase to the minimum wage amounts to about R80 a year, which she described as pathetic.
She explained: “When you look at things like rent, food and transport costs, this minimum wage is not enough to survive on at all. However, we are grateful that there is a minimum wage at all but we feel that it doesn’t have a big effect on the life of the domestic worker in this country.
“Even now, if you go to shopping malls you will find domestic workers in loan shark offices looking for money for back-to-school items for their children because there are those employers who fail to provide even that minimum amount.”
When asked how much they pay their domestics, some Daily Dispatch readers said not only do they provide a monthly salary, but some go above and beyond in an effort to increase the standards of their domestics’ home life as well.
David Radue said the domestic who had worked for his parents received a monthly salary for a four-day week of R2000 with UIF and was also presented with a newly-built house.
“My parents had a house built for her in Newlands just outside of East London. She worked four days a week, got transport money plus just under R2000 a month,” he said.
“She was part of our family and has just retired. She was a pleasure to be around and will be missed.”
Olive Jacobs said her domestic worker, who has been working with her for 20 years, not only received a salary well above the recommended minimum for three days of work per week but she also paid for her children’s education.
“I put all her kids through school, the last one in a former model C school,” she said.
With regards to working hours, the labour department released a set of prescribed guidelines which state that domestic workers cannot be made to work more than 45 hours a week, work more than nine hours a day for a five-day work week and work more than eight hours a day for a six-day work week.
This does not include time taken for lunch.
The guidelines also state that a domestic worker may not work more than 15 hours of overtime per week and that overtime must be paid at one-and-a-half times the employee’s normal wage or they should receive paid time off in lieu of overtime worked.
Domestics are also to get a daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours and a weekly rest period of 36 consecutive hours which must include Sunday.
“The daily rest period may, by agreement, be reduced to 10 hours for an employee who lives on the premises whose meal interval lasts for at least three hours,” the guidelines read.
“The weekly rest period may by agreement be extended to 60 consecutive hours every two weeks or be reduced to eight hours in any week if the rest period in the following week is extended equivalently.”
Witbooi said they dealt with too many complaints regarding working hours.
“Many domestics complain that they’re forced to work seven days a week with absolutely no time off, with some saying they are not even allowed to take a few hours off to go to church.
“This week the children are going back to school and many employees won’t give them time to prepare for their children despite the fact that these women are parents too,” she said, adding that other complaints include employers who refuse to register their domestics on UIF, as well as employees who hire domestic workers on a full time, live-in basis but provide very little in the way of a daily meal.
Pela urged all domestics experiencing difficulties with their employers to visit one of their over 300 centres situated across the country to lay a formal complaint.
“Domestic workers are often the pillar of the households where they work and it’s very sad that they are the most underpaid workers in South Africa,” Witbooi concluded. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
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