Hiring a domestic worker

[Renee H]

Good Morning,

My husband and I have just moved into a new house and have been thinking about hiring a domestic worker.
There is a room with a toilet and shower so we would like a live in position.
We have no idea what to pay her or what contracts to give.
Can somebody please help us out with some advise on this matter.

Thank you
Renee

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Go to dept of labour they have a nice document with all the details and seperate documents dealing with each FAQ.

[Dave A]

Doesn't having a live-in domestic worker get complicated with the consequences of ESTA? If I remember correctly, one of the issues is you could end up dismissing the worker and then face serious problems in terms of moving the worker off the property.

[Renee H]

Thanks Dave,
That is something to think about,perhaps better to make the room a laundry and rather just get some one to come in daily.
But then the other problem is my husband and I bothe leave for work by 06h20, and i dont feel comfortable leaving my keys with a stranger. I will have to think on the issue a little longer.

Thanks for your advise.
Keep well
Renee

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

There are two scenarios - 1 the live in accomodation is part of the employment contract and is a term and condition.
The second is where the domestic is a tenant.
Each proffers different issues - In the second scenarion, you can run into the problem as Dave suggests. Thus if the accomodation is seperate, in other words you pay the domestic and they in turn pay rent, put a lease into place. The advantage of this is if you wish to keep the domestic but not have them on the premises you can decide not to renew lease and not need to engage on the employment contract side.
In the first case, if you no longer want the domestic as live in, you have an actual term and condition of contract that needs altering. Can be done but has the normal consultation and procedural routes. Alternatively have the accomodation as a BENEFIT and not a term. benefits can pretty much be altered at will. In either case have a monetary value put to the rental, even if there is no transaction.
The rental can be offset against the wages - eg if minimum wage is R1500 but you wanted to pay R1200 a month you would set the monthly wage as R1500 and deduct R300 as a consideration towards rent

[Renee H]

Hi there Sterne,
I was typing a mesage than I lost it so appologies if you receive it twice.
As I was saying it seems so much more complicated than one would expect. It makes me a little nervouse. I will definitely take all this info home and chat with Don. Thanks for the advise.
Chat soon

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

there is a latin saying oft quoted and directly translated means - nothing are simple

[Dave A]

Hence my love for the KISS principle

Personally I'd stay well clear of providing anything that might be deemed as providing permanent accommodation to an employee. The LRA and ESTA can pose enough challenges when dealing with them separately - together the challenges they pose are probably greater than the sum of their parts.

It also struck me that mention should be made of the sectoral determination for domestic workers.

[Renee H]

Morning Dave,

Just wanted to say thanks for the help. We are going to think over every thing for a while.
But i will call on you again i am sure when we have made our dicision.

Regards
Renee