ON OCTOBER 15, THE GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA published a draft of the Domestic Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025. The proposed Bill aims to guarantee minimum wages, extend welfare benefits, and formalise protections for thousands of household workers in urban areas.
The draft legislation seeks to create a rights-based contributory framework under which all domestic workers, including maids, cooks, drivers, and nannies, along with their employers and service providers, will be required to register. A dedicated Karnataka State Domestic Workers Social Security and Welfare Board will be set up to implement the law, frame schemes, and resolve grievances.
The proposed Board will be structured as a tripartite body, ensuring equal representation from government officials, domestic workers and their unions, employers, service providers such as agencies and digital platforms, as well as representatives from resident welfare associations.
The draft bill says that, “The employer or the service provider or the placement agency including the platforms engaged in the services of providing employment or work opportunities to the domestic workers within the state of Karnataka shall be liable to pay up to 5 percent of the wages or remuneration as welfare fee through digital transaction to the fund so created.”
The contribution must be made digitally. The state is also considering a tripartite contribution model, where domestic workers, employers, and the government will each share responsibility for funding, though the exact ratios are still being discussed.
Registered domestic workers will be entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay. They will also have the right to reasonable working hours, with a cap of forty-eight hours a week.
