Experts give opinions to new rules on domestic workers

Experts give opinions to new rules on domestic workers

The new regulations on domestic workers should be more concrete so that they can be implemented efficiently when they take effect next month, some experts have said.>> Vietnam employers required to contract domestic workers beginning May 25

These regulations are provided in Government Decree 27 that provides guidance for the implementation of a number of articles of the Code of Labor in relation to domestic workers.

Under the decree, as of May 25, those who employ domestic workers in Vietnam must sign a labor contract with them and must not pay them less than applicable minimum wages applicable in the zone where they are working.

Along with a salary, employers are required to give their domestic workers money so that the latter can pay for the social insurance and health insurance premiums stipulated in their labor contracts.

Also under the decree, domestic workers are entitled to take 12 paid days off for every full working year. In addition, they are also given paid days off on national holidays and Lunar New Year every year.

Commenting on the new rules, Mrs. Ngo Ngoc Anh, director of the Research Center for Gender, Family and Community Development, told Tuoi Tre that a number of issues should be more concretized before the rules can be applied effectively.

One important issue is that the decree has yet to specify which form of labor contract will be used for domestic workers and their employers, Anh said.

There should be a labor contract template to ensure the new rules will be included in contracts between domestic workers and their employers, she said.

In addition, Anh said, a legal document providing guidance for the implementation of the decree should be issued to facilitate the enforcement of the new regulations.

That guidance should specify which agency has authority to make inspections about whether labor contracts have been signed between domestic workers and their employers, or whether the employers have given their workers money so that the latter can pay for the social insurance and health insurance premiums under their labor contracts.

The country now has 260,000 domestic workers and the figure may increase to 400,000 next year, Nga said, citing a recent survey of her center.

Also regarding the new decree, Nguyen Van Sang, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Vocational Training, Career Orientation, and Employment Service Center, told Tuoi Tre that the new regulations will benefit domestic workers.

However, Sang said, the stipulation that the employers pay money to their domestic workers so that the latter pay for the social insurance and health insurance premiums may be ineffective unless the implementation of this regulation is supervised by an authorized agency.

There may be cases in which domestic workers do not pay for their insurance premiums after they have received money for this purpose from their employers, Sang explained.

Therefore, an agency should be designated to follow and supervise payments of insurance premiums by domestic workers, he said.

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