If you’ve ever joined one of those neighbourhood Facebook groups, you’ll be familiar with the ‘what should I pay my domestic worker’ chats that usually turn heated.

It seems South Africans have some very different takes on what constitutes sufficient payment, and there’s no denying that the current minimum wage makes surviving the month a major concern.

According to BusinessTech, a recent report by the International Labour Organisation found that “close to one million South African women are currently employed as domestic workers around the country”.

During an interview with Namhla Duma, Director at the Premium Domestic Services, she stressed the need for employers to familiarise themselves with their legal requirements, as well as to consider other factors:

Duma stressed that many domestic workers were struggling to make ends meet on these wages and that these amounts should be the bare minimum an employer pays. She also noted that the issue was compounded by employers expecting their domestic workers to consistently work overtime.

“Legally you are supposed to work an 8 or 9 hour day, which works out to a maximum of 45 hours a week. And obviously Sundays and public holidays are overtime, which they don’t have to work if they don’t want to – depending on the arrangement with the employee.”

Before we look at that tables bear this in mind:

The Department of Labour announced an increase in the minimum wage for domestic workers across South Africa as of  1 December 2016. According to the definition of a “domestic worker” as provided by the department, this includes all housekeepers, gardeners, nannies, and domestic drivers, among others.

…these wages are split into two area categories with “Area A” referring to large metropolitan municipalities and built up areas and suburbs and “Area B” referring to all other municipalities.

Whilst a new minimum wage will apply from May of next year, this is what the current wages break down as:

I don’t know how you survive on that.

As for those changes taking effect next May,  the new minimum for workers (including domestic workers) will be R3 500 a month – or R20 an hour.

I suppose it’s progress, but my do we have a long way to go.

[source:businesstech]