THEY are in most instances viewed as the most controversial category of workers, and yet fewer households can do without them.
This is because many people are now living in what has been described as “the fast lane”. One just has to work in order to make ends meet.
It is hard to imagine an era of the so-called full-time housewives since men can no longer afford to run the affairs of their homes single-handedly.
Put differently, times are hard and couples are now expected to work together to sort out family bills.
In the absence of fathers and mothers in a home, domestic workers fill the space to run household chores that come in many forms.
Domestic workers, or bakaboyi in the local parlance, play the role of house cleaners, chefs, gardeners, and many other menial tasks that usually attract low wages.
For some households than cannot afford to engage domestic workers for a whole month, they go for what is referred to as “piece work”.
Men, or boys, are normally associated with external household work. A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female person employed in domestic service.
But despite the role they play, house servants have attracted a lot of controversies. The issue of domestic workers is still a sticking point and most times it is because both employers and workers do not know what the law says.
The disagreements on domestic workers are of course not unique to Zambia. There are at least 52 million domestic workers worldwide, and millions of them are excluded from occupational safety and health protections enjoyed by other workers, according to a 2013 report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Despite the size of the sector, many domestic workers experience poor working conditions and insufficient legal protection.
Domestic workers account for 7.5 per cent of women’s wage employment worldwide and a far greater share in some regions, particularly Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Between the mid-1990s and 2010, there was an increase of more than 19 million domestic workers worldwide.
The report carrying the title ‘Domestic Workers Across the World: Global and Regional Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection’, follows the adoption, in June 2011, of a new ILO convention and recommendation on domestic work.
Many people migrate to other countries to find work. It is likely that the figures contained in the report underestimate the true numbers of domestic workers worldwide.
The figures also exclude child domestic workers below the age of 15, who were not included in the surveys used by the report. Their number was estimated by the ILO at 7.4 million in 2008.
Even in Zambia, there are many young people who have been taken from villages by relatives promising to provide education or a better life, but they end up as house helpers in some cases.
Combined with the lack of rights, the extreme dependency on an employer and the isolated and unprotected nature of domestic work can render them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
These new international standards are aimed at ensuring decent working conditions and pay for domestic workers worldwide.
Domestic work represents a significant share of global wage employment, yet domestic workers remain excluded from the scope of labour laws and the legal protections afforded other workers.
Some of the misunderstandings on domestic work could be avoided if employers acquainted themselves with the laws.
As a good example, last week I received a query from a reader who wanted to know what her gardener was entitled to as separation package.
The gardener stopped on his own accord and had only worked for one year and eight months.  He was demanding in excess of K3, 000 as benefits.
However, since the gardener left on his own, he was only entitled to leave days. If the employer had asked him to leave, he would have been entitled to a month’s pay.
In view of this, it is necessary to look at the Statutory Instrument (SI) on this crucial matter.
Among other important matters, SI number three of 2011 looks at the interpretation of domestic work, the minimum wages and conditions of service, hours of work, annual leave, paid sick leave, separation package, transport allowance, protective clothing, and prohibition of child labour.
As we continue to discuss this critical issue on domestic workers, I will share with you the intricate details contained in this SI which will provide useful answers to some pertinent questions.
For now, let us keep the link open as we share issues on labour and employment.
(This column is an initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. For comments or questions, email info@mlss.gov.zm or niza12001@yahoo.com)