Paralegal Training Program 2019-2020

 

Follow-Up Course Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2018”

Facilitator Advocate qamar Hanif Ramay

Organization AGHS-Legal Aid Cell

Month March 2020

The Punjab Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat introduced the “Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2018” during the Punjab Assembly session. Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari referred the Act to the concerned committee and sought a report within two months.The “Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2018” not only binds everyone to address a servant as ‘domestic worker’, but it has also fixed a fine of Rs.50,000 over employing a child under age 12.It is a new law which was only introduced in 2019 but still it is not known or familiar by the public at large. In minimum wage, the Act states that no employer shall pay to the domestic worker, the remuneration payable, at rates less favourable than those at which remuneration is paid to the domestic workers of the opposite sex performing same work or work of a similar nature or of equal value.

The Act further stated that a female domestic worker engaged in domestic work shall be entitled to maternity benefits with a minimum amount equivalent to six weeks wages in a prescribed manner but not less than the minimum wages notified by the government.