Give domestic workers compulsory day off, say groups
KUALA LUMPUR : Several groups have urged the government to mandate a compulsory weekly day off for domestic workers.
They say implementing an uninterrupted day off for these workers will protect them from exploitation, confinement, and abuses.
The groups include the Association of Nationalist Overseas Filipino Workers in Malaysia (AMMPO), the Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers Association (Pertimig), the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), and non-profit NGO Our Journey.
They said a recent survey by AMMPO, Pertimig, and IDWF showed that nearly all of the participants were deprived of a weekly day off, with nearly half of them working seven days a week.
The survey, which covered 108 individuals, also reported that 15% of the workers experienced physical violence, threats, or verbal abuse when they requested a day off.
'We urge the government and employers to take concrete action by enacting a mandatory weekly day off for domestic workers,' the groups said at an event today in conjunction with International Domestic Workers Day, which falls on June 16 each year.
They also urged the government to provide domestic workers with the full scope of labour standards afforded to other sectors by removing the exclusion in the First Schedule under the 1955 Employment Act.
They said the government should introduce a standard employment contract and ensure that migrant domestic workers are not asked to bear the recruitment costs.
Renewed calls were also made for the government to introduce a standalone legislation to protect domestic workers and ratify the ILO Domestic Workers Convention 2011.
M Ramachelvam, co-chairman of the Bar Council's Migrants, Refugees and Immigration Affairs Committee, said a separate law for domestic workers should be enacted to cater to the differences between domestic work and the formal sector.
He suggested that the government standardise employment contracts and issue regulations for domestic work.
'These are within the powers of the human resources minister without needing to table them in Parliament. This is something the minister should look into immediately,' he said.
Ramachelvam urged the government to introduce mechanisms to allow foreign domestic workers to change their employers or sectors.
He said the government should also regulate the employment of domestic workers as part-time cleaners to avoid labour rights abuse. Currently, he said, any injury happening at a commercial workplace is not protected by the domestic worker's social security insurance.
'Employers are hiring several domestic workers and sending them out to work as part-time cleaners in several houses, but they should not be exploited this way. There should be regulations on these part-time arrangements,' he said.
On June 12, migrant rights group Tenaganita urged the government to introduce a separate domestic workers law following the rescue of an abused Indonesian woman from a house.
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