Helpless helpers

WESTERN BUREAU:

As of today, June 1, Jamaica’s national minimum wage has increased to $16,000 per 40-hour workweek. However, for many of the country’s domestic workers, the pay hike offers little comfort in the absence of crucial employment benefits.

Elaine Duncan, president of the Jamaica Household Workers Union (JHWU), told The Sunday Gleaner that while some employers are compliant, many domestic workers are still left in the cold – receiving no sick leave, vacation, or statutory contributions despite earning more than minimum wage.

“Some domestic workers are receiving their benefits, and some employers do know that they are to give employees their benefits. One of the main concerns is that some employers do not pay their share of the NIS benefits, and also sick leave. Some employers don’t pay sick leave, and if the employee takes a day, some of them pull it from the salary.”

Still, she acknowledged there are responsible employers.

“We have good ones who pay their share of the NIS and good salaries, too, because they know that the minimum wage can’t do much, so they give good salaries and ensure that the employees get their benefits. [Some] also add benefits by giving them lunch and whatever else they think they should get,” Duncan explained.

Educating domestic workers

Duncan also highlighted the union’s ongoing work in educating domestic workers across the island through workshops. She stated that the goal of this effort is to provide those who are often marginalised with the information and help they need to protect themselves at work.

Domestic workers are entitled to paid vacation leave, paid sick days, redundancy benefits, and deductions and payments from the National Housing Trust (NHT) and the National Insurance Scheme. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) includes provisions for domestic workers in several acts, including the Minimum Wage Act, Holidays with Pay Act, Labour Relations and Industrial Relations Act, and Employment (Termination and Redundancy Payment) Act.

For example, according to the 2022 Manual for Household Workers and Employers in Jamaica after a year’s service, a household worker who completes more than 220 days of service with the same employer is entitled to two working weeks of paid vacation leave. Those who have worked with the same employer for over 10 years are entitled to three working weeks. For workers who serve between 111 and 220 days, they earn one day of paid leave for every 22 days worked.

Additionally, it says that workers are entitled to five days’ sick leave after 110 days (four months) and two weeks paid sick leave after a year.

Despite these protections, the reality is often quite different for many of the estimated 58,000 to 100,000 household workers across the island, the majority of whom are women.

Miss Veronica, a domestic worker in eastern Jamaica, told The Sunday Gleaner that while she earns above minimum wage, she receives no benefits – a situation she attributes to the short duration of her current job.

“I just started working in November last year, so I don’t get any form of benefits where I am at now. I get my full pay, [which] is more than minimum wage. If I take a day from work, she still pays me for the day, but she nuh draw any NIS or Housing Trust from it,” she said.

However, her real concern stems from years of employment with other households and companies that failed to pay over statutory deductions. According to the domestic worker, she was employed at the freezone many years ago and worked as a janitor at another company.

“I am three years away from getting my pension, but when my husband died and I gave them my NIS number to get a funeral grant, they said they didn’t see it (and deductions paid over) on the system. The Government is doing enough because they are putting these benefits in place, but there is still nothing for me to get. I was told that even if I get a new NIS number, it still wouldn’t be enough,” she bemoaned.

“Mi really feel bad fi know say mi work at so many places where mi pay those things and at the end of the day now, my husband passed off, and when mi reach pension age, there is nothing for me, so I wasted all of my time,” she stressed.

A live-in domestic worker, Miss Maxine, who has been caring for an elderly woman for five years, told The Sunday Gleaner that while she, too, earns above minimum wage, there are no additional benefits attached to her job.

Never taken a sick day

“I have never taken a vacation leave either ... . Sometimes the lady is in Jamaica, and other times she is in the States, so I would say that whenever she is not here is my vacation leave. I have never taken a sick day, and I get my weekends off,” she said, noting that she is not paid when the woman is overseas.

At 55, Miss Maxine no longer contributes to NIS or NHT, she believes that younger domestic workers should be permitted to do so because of the benefits of these systems. Through NHT, contributors can access loans to build, buy, or refurbish their homes. At the same time, NIS allows contributors to access retirement pensions, health insurance (NI Gold), invalidity pensions, and funeral grants. Maternity allowance is also pegged to the national minimum wage and is accessible to domestic workers.

“One long time mi used to pay those things, but I am 55 years old now, so I don’t pay them again. ... My kids cover my healthcare. I just do this to take up my time,” she explained.

Miss Sophie, another household worker, believes the core issue is a lack of awareness.

“Most people are not aware because the information isn’t out there. There are certain benefits from NIS that a lot of people don’t know about. Sometimes people only know if they have someone close to them working in the industry. I don’t think a lot of domestic workers know about the paid vacation leave and sick days, so more awareness is needed,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Just last month, Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr announced that the maternity allowance for domestic workers, which is pegged to the minimum wage and paid through the NIS, would also move to $16,000 as of June 1.

Domestic workers are categorised as employed persons under the NIS and as such, are expected to receive the same benefits as any ordinary worker on the island. Their employment status is further broken down into three categories: residential, non-residential weekly, or daily workers.

St Patrice Ennis, president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), explained that there seems to be a high level of ambiguity as it relates to the employment of domestic workers. He believes that more effort is needed to ensure that “their statutory obligations are met on the part of employers”, and their contracts reflect these obligations.

“While strides have been made, there is considerably more to be done in that regard. We need to be more vigilant in terms of knowing what is happening within the sector.

“Also, their status of employment is something that we must address, whether their work is regularised. Oftentimes, the relationship or the kind of contract which engages them is rather tenuous and unclear, because they are not normally engaged as employees. And so for that matter, they are often dismissed without any notice, the labour relations and industrial disputes does not factor into many of the relationships that they and their employers have. So we need to make sure that we regularise persons’ statuses as employees, having a clear distinction in terms of who is a worker, who is a contract worker and who is not,” Ennis added.

The JCTU president feels that the lack of understanding contributes to some domestic workers not receiving full benefits from their employers. He stated that domestic workers are frequently treated as contract workers rather than employees, as the law requires.

“Oftentimes when they deem them to be contract workers, the employer is of the view that it is the workers who are responsible for their statutory deductions and that they are not entitled to any benefits or they are entitled to arrange their pension, pay their own NIS, make their statutory declarations and operate as if they are a business,” Ennis said.

“I think there must be some intervention in terms of education, so that the workers know their rights and when things are not happening, they can initiate whatever action to bring their employers into compliance with the regulation and all labour laws,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

June 16 will be observed as International Domestic Workers’ Day.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com