domestic workers: decent work for all – south africa - Solidar

Subject to the conditions and regulations laid down by law, free medical care is available to
pregnant women, children below the age of six years, and women requesting termination of
pregnancy. Furthermore, all persons are entitled to free primary health care services. 39 Due to
pressure on resources, however, the availability and quality of health care services have in
some cases proven to be problematic, especially in rural areas.
Social insurance
In terms of the Unemployment Insurance Act 40 (UIA), which has been amended to include
domestic workers, social insurance benefits 41 available to contributors or dependants of
contributor are:
• unemployment benefits;
• illness benefits;
• maternity benefits;
• adoption benefits; and
• dependant’s benefits.
While these measures are available to safeguard domestic workers in the event of unplanned
contingencies befalling them, they are not sufficient. A major problem is that only a minority of
domestic workers are registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). One of the
reasons is that many domestic workers work for different employers, while a requirement for
registration is that ta contributor has to work a minimum of 24 hours per month for a particular
employer. 42 A year after the introduction of SD7 it was found that no more than 25% of domestic
workers were registered with the UIF. 43 More recently, a survey 44 revealed that, out of a sample
of some 200 employers, 41.4% (82 in number) had registered their domestic employees
although 56.2% indicted that they were aware of SD7. Various reasons were provided by the
remainder for not registering the domestic workers, ranging from ―the process is too time
consuming‖ or ―it is not worth the effort‖ to ―I do not know where to get the relevant information‖.
At about the same time, a readers’ poll on a newspaper website 45 revealed that, out of 677
respondents, 48% (327 employers) indicated that they had registered their domestic workers
with the UIF and were paying contributions. Significantly, while very few respondents revealed
substantive reasons for not having registered their domestic workers, many used the platform to
voice their grievances against the current government.
Another problem area is the absence of retirement funds for domestic workers to accumulate
benefits during their years of service, unless the employer has created one for them. If a
domestic worker leaves employment, no means of support is available other than the older
person’s grant. 46
Remedial action
Against this background a number of initiatives have been taken or proposed to improve the
application and effectiveness of legal regulation in the domestic employment sector. In
particular, the following may be noted:
39 Section 4, National Health Act 61 of 2003 read with section 2, Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996.
40 Act 63 of 2001
41 The amount of benefits depends on the remuneration of the contributor, ranging from 30.78% of remuneration in the
case of the highest-paid to 58.64% in the case of the lowest-paid: see Schedule 3, UIA. The period for which benefits
are payable is limited and depends on the contributor’s length of employment.
42 Section 3, UIA.
43 Tom Hertz Have Minimum Wages Benefited South Africa’s Domestic Service Workers? African Development and
Poverty Reduction: The Macro-Micro Linkage: Forum Paper (2004) at
http://www.wiego.org/occupational_groups/pdfs/South%20Africa_Hertz_Minimum_Wages_for_Domestics.pdf (accessed
16 January 2010).
44 Conducted by African Response for Social Law Project in mid-2009.
45 Placed on www.iol.co.za on 7 August 2009.
46 Unemployment benefits are only available for a limited period and may only be claimed if the employer has dismissed
the employee or is insolvent or a fixed-term contract has terminated: section 14, UIA.
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