In its recent judgment dated 29.01.2025 in Ajay Malik vs. State of Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court, while addressing a case involving the severe exploitation of a domestic worker by placement agencies, emphasized the vulnerable working conditions faced by domestic workers. The Court highlighted the glaring absence of legal protections for this workforce and underscored the urgent need for comprehensive legislation to safeguard their rights.
It recognizes that domestic workers who belong to marginalised communities, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Economically Weaker Sections, remain largely unprotected and without any comprehensive legal recognition.
The Court noted how the non-regulation of this crucial labour sector leaves workers in the lurch, emphasizing that, in this particular case, the Placement Agency continually withheld the worker's salaries, leaving her utterly destitute and helpless.
The Court emphasized that domestic workers are not only unprotected due to the legal vacuum, but are also excluded from existing labour laws, depriving them of their fundamental rights.
The Court also considered the International obligations on this aspect, more particularly the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), which offers specific protection to domestic workers while laying down the basic rights that such workers are entitled to, and the measures that States must take to ensure decent work conditions.
In light of this, the Court directed the Ministry of Labour and Employment in tandem with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and the Ministry of Law and Justice, to jointly constitute a Committee comprising subject experts to consider the desirability of recommending a legal framework for the benefit, protection and regulation of the rights of domestic workers. The Committee's findings are to be submitted within six months, following which the Government of India must assess the necessity of enacting an appropriate legal framework to address the issues faced by domestic workers.
AICCTU has repeatedly highlighted the extremely vulnerable position under which domestic workers are compelled to work and the absence of any legal framework that protects them. It has also highlighted that apart from a lack of basic rights in the workplace, workers are also vulnerable to sexual harassment and face daily caste discrimination.
In the light of these concerns, it is imperative that the Union Government take immediate action, as directed by the Supreme Court, to safeguard the rights of domestic workers. Such a policy must provide for domestic workers job security, social security, minimum wages and complete safeguard from sexual harassment and caste discrimination.
