THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Cordillera Administrative Region is urging the public to learn more about the RA 10361 otherwise known as Domestic Workers Act or Batas Kasambahay.
“Batas Kasamabahay is a landmark piece of labor and social legislation that recognizes for the first time domestic workers as similar to those in the formal sector. It strengthens respect, protection, and promotion of the rights and welfare of domestic or kasambahay”, said DOLE Regional Director Henry John Jalbueana.
Under this law, specific acts declared to be unlawful such as employment of children below 15 years old; withholding of the kasambahay’s wages, interference in the disposal of the kasamabahay’s wages, requiring kasambahay to make deposits for loss or damage, placing the kasambahay under the debt bondage and charging another household for temporarily performed tasks.
RA 10361 covers general house help, yaya, cook, gardener, laundry person, working children or domestic workers 15 years old and above but below 18 years old, or any person who regularly performs domestic work in one household on an occupational basis (live-out arrangement) while the following are not covered by the said law: service providers, family drivers, children under foster family arrangement, and any other person who performs works occasionally or sporadically and not an occupational and regular basis.
With the continuing efforts of the Department to reach and inform wider coverage of the general public, the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns, has also come up with an e-Learning Introductory Course on Batas Kasambahay to make provisions of the law accessible to more domestic workers.
The e-Learning Course is available at elearning.dole.gov.ph, the e-learning portal of the DOLE Labor Governance Learning Center. The establishment was initiated by DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz as part of her reforms to enable the DOLE to keep with today’s learning trends.
Online course covers the coverage, benefits, rights and privileges of kasambahay, and duties and responsibilities of employers. Meanwhile, Dole Secretary Baldoz had already approved and issued the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-Cordillera wage order, W.O. No. CAR-DW-01, raising the minimum wages of household domestic workers in the region to not less than P2,500 in chartered cities and first-class municipalities and P 2,000 in other municipality classes.
Regional Director Jalbuena, Chairman of RTWPB-CAR, said the wage rates which were computed based on the prevailing regional socio-economic condition and agreed upon after consultations with stakeholders, are higher than what RA 10361 prescribed.
“I commend the RTWPB-CAR (Cordillera) for being the first wage board to mandate a pay hike for kasambahay since the (Kasambahay) law was passed in 2013,” Sec Baldoz said.
Meanwhile, DOLE recently reoriented 120 domestic helpers and employers on the rights of the domestic helpers during the celebration of Araw ng Kasambahay on February 6, 2016 at Nene Pimentel Hall, DILG Cordillera, Government Center, Baguio City. (Dole Cordillera)