Domestic workers have urged parliamentarians to ensure that their right to work contract and minimum wage is included in the Labour Act.

The new Act, which is yet to be approved by the Cabinet, has included domestic work but is silent on key issues like pay, work contract and working hours.

Domestic workers have put forward their demand before a group of parliamentarians including Geeta Wagle, Bharat Khadka, Binod Shrestha, Prabha Bajracharya, Radha Timalsina and Lalita Kumari Regmi. “A majority of domestic workers are women and they have been found to be exploited in terms of pay and working hours,” said Uma Bhandari, who works as a domestic help in the Capital. “It is important that the Act includes provisions to stop abuse and exploitation.”

Clause 88 (a) of the Act says: “… the government can set a separate minimum wage for domestic workers.” The same clause counts food and education allowances within monthly wage. According to Goma Bhandari, secretary at the Domestic Workers Forum, domestic workers share common plight of few rights, little freedom and frequent abuses.

The Act leaves workers at the mercy of employers when it comes to pay.

A domestic worker in Nepal usually gets between Rs200 and Rs5,000 a month. “Pay scale of a domestic worker is solely the discretion of the employer,” said Goma.

Lawmaker Bajracharya assured the workers that she would do the needful to address their grievances. “The issues you have raised are genuine. I think they were not included in the Act because those formulating the Act were ignorant of these problems,” said Bajracharya.

She also stressed the need to educate more parliamentarians about these issues so that the concerns of domestic workers are included in the Act without hassle.