Legarda urges employers, Domestic Workers to Join Public Consultation on Kasambahay Law IRR

Senator Loren Legarda, co-author and co-sponsor of Republic Act No. 10361 or the Kasambahay Law, today urged representatives of domestic workers and employers to participate in the public consultation on the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) to ensure that their views are heard and taken into consideration.

“Dapat may inputs pa rin ang ating mga kasambahay sa ginagawang IRR ng batas para lubusang mapangalagaan ang kanilang kapakanan,” Legarda said.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is already done with the draft IRR, which was posted in the DOLE website last Friday, and that it will start with its face-to-face consultations in April.

Legarda said the country’s domestic workers have long been waiting for this law as it would guarantee them decent working conditions, fair compensation and sufficient benefits. She believes that kasambahays should be treated as workers, not servants.

The law sets the minimum wage for domestic workers at P2,500 a month for those employed in the National Capital Region (NCR); P2,000 a month for those employed in chartered cities and first class municipalities; and P1,500 a month for those employed in other municipalities.

They are also entitled to receive Social Security System (SSS), PhilHealth and Pag-ibig benefits. The law states that if a household worker earns less than P5,000 a month, it is the employer who must shoulder the entire premium and contributions of the worker.

Legarda, who has shepherded the law’s approval in the Senate, said it is also important that the views of employers are heard to balance the two parties’ interests.

It was Legarda, as Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who spearheaded in August 2012 the Senate concurrence in the ratification of ILO Convention 189, known as the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers. The Philippines, as the second country to ratify the Convention, paved the way for the entry into force of the Treaty.***