DURBAN - Domestic workers have been encouraged to report employers who do not pay them the national minimum wage and register them for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation Fund (CF).
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Employment and Labour held a seminar under the theme Paying the National Minimum Wage is the right thing to do, with a focus on the domestic sector on Friday in Durban.
The department’s provincial chief inspector Mncedisi Khambula said that inspections in private homes are difficult.
“Inspections in private homes are challenging as owners are also protected by the Constitution of the Republic with the right to their privacy.”
Advocate Caroline Kwetepane said that employees should report non-complying employers to the nearest Labour centre or they can approach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) but not both.
“If the employer is a first offender, the value of the underpayment to the employee is doubled and for the second offence, the value of the underpayment is tripled.”
Nolundi Shezi, senior commissioner at the CCMA, said that domestic workers with complaints should have relevant documentation.
“In making sure that the minimum wage for domestic workers is implemented successfully by requesting workers to make sure that when they bring their disputes to them, they must ensure that they provide all the relevant information such as the name and address of the employer, the facts about the dispute and if money is involved.”
Siphamandla Gumede from the UIF said that it was important to remember that domestic workers are eligible for benefits such as unemployment, illness, maternity, parental, adoption, commissioning parental, Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme and Workers Affected by Unrest benefits.
While Nobantu Morrison, from the CF, said that the inclusion of domestic workers into the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act necessitated the registration of their employers with the Fund.
The South African Domestic and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) said the department needs to have more inspectors for the sector and to force employers to register them for the UIF and CF.
Dr Pravine Naidoo, director of Advocacy & Stakeholder Relations in the Labour Inspectorate, announced that the Department of Employment and Labour and SADSAWU have entered into a memorandum of understanding to jointly collaborate on programmes in the domestic workers sector.
THE MERCURY