Kasambahay Law - Employer Responsibilities

[JJReyes]

Carl, don't teach her English.

 

Through the family network, they found a young, bright girl from the provinces to help my wife care for our children. She was a high school graduate and we insisted she learn to speak in standard American English. That mean't paying for her to attend night school. The aunties were against it because school mean't meeting boys. Sure enough, she asked permission to get married in less than a year and left. The aunties were correct, but my wife felt helping someone attain a better life is not wrong.

 

There were no kasambahay laws then, but we paid more. This actually caused friction with relatives because the maids and drivers would meet and compare salaries. For the drivers and others who had families, they each received a sack of rice every quarter as a bonus. The rice was reassurance that no matter what happened, they had something to eat. 

Edited August 29, 2013 by JJReyes

[Markham]

According to a friend of ours whose father is the Captain for quite a wealthy Barangay, the problem is that maid and yayas often don't want to sign contracts with their employers nor do they want their employers to make SSS payments because they then become liable for the employee contribution.

[MikeB]

The employer is not just responsible for making SSS contributions on behalf of the employee but for making all contributions + interest + 3% penalty per month since date of hire; potentially going back to 1997 when the Social Security Act was implemented. So you could conceivably owe 16 years of contributions, penalties, and interest to get your employee up to date. Even the Dept of Labor and Employment says it shouldn't have been made retroactive. This law is not only hurting the kasambahay themselves but the working middle class, putting the entire cost and headache of dealing with dysfunctional government agencies on them. Short-sighted, ill-conceived, and poorly planned would be an understatement.

http://mb.com.ph/Lifestyle/Arts_&_Culture/20966/Kasambahay_confusion_%E2%80%93_DOLE_wants_amendments#.UiBYfDanpVY

[Americano]

In my opinion, some of the requirements in this law show how out of touch with reality some of the law makers are. There are too many unnecessary requirements.

 

This law has not applied to me since I moved to the Philippines in November 2009 because I have never hired anyone to work for me. Instead I have invited a few relatives to live with me and my wife for a few months each. They helped to clean the house, wash dishes and clothes just as any family member should do, but we didn't pay them a salary.  Sure we feed them good and bought things for them but isn't that what you should do for family members who are guests in your home. And, they benefited from us by having daily access to the Internet, learning English from us, going to school and even one met the foreigner of her dreams while living with us. She is married to him now and has one son.  In other words, if you can't or don't want to comply with all the requirements of this new law then simply invite one of you relatives to live with you. They will help do household shores and if they don't then send them back home and try another one.  Every family has many young females to choose from.

[MikeB]

In other words, if you can't or don't want to comply with all the requirements of this new law then simply invite one of you relatives to live with you.

We are considering that but my wife's family lives far away, in another part of the country; not necessarily a bad thing. If we didn't have a baby I would scrap the whole thing but between that and modern conveniences like plastic washer/driers that don't actually wash OR dry and require a large amount of manual labor, it's difficult. It's more then just a convenience. I'm sure there are cases of helpers being mistreated but I believe it's a tiny minority. It's Filipino custom to treat them as family. We are paying our helper exactly double what the law mandates for our class of municipality. She uses that money to support her 6 children and husband; they have electricity and she can send her kids to school because of it. Who suffers if we have to let her go because of this law?

[Americano]

 

In other words, if you can't or don't want to comply with all the requirements of this new law then simply invite one of you relatives to live with you.

We are considering that but my wife's family lives far away, in another part of the country; not necessarily a bad thing. If we didn't have a baby I would scrap the whole thing but between that and modern conveniences like plastic washer/driers that don't actually wash OR dry and require a large amount of manual labor, it's difficult. It's more then just a convenience. I'm sure there are cases of helpers being mistreated but I believe it's a tiny minority. It's Filipino custom to treat them as family. We are paying our helper exactly double what the law mandates for our class of municipality. She uses that money to support her 6 children and husband; they have electricity and she can send her kids to school because of it. Who suffers if we have to let her go because of this law?

 

 

My wife's family lives in Mindanao and we live in Carcar on Cebu Island.  Its not expensive to bring one of her family members up by ship.  Recently a foreigner friend living on our street wanted to hire a helper mostly to help take care of their baby and to wash dishes and clothes so he asked us if we knew someone who could work for him. My wife had a distant relative in Southern Mindanao who was looking of work so he decided to pay her transportation to Carcar.  My wife figured how much it would cost her to take a bus and then a barge to get to the port in Ozamiz City, the cost of her ticket which we got on the Internet, money to buy food to eat on the trip, taxi fare from the port in Cebu to the South bus terminal and bus fare from Cebu to Carcar.  The total was P1,700 so we sent that amount to her. When she arrived at our home she had a little left over.

 

As I said the new law has too many requirements but there are some that I like. For example, if the worker leaves without just cause within the first 6 months then the worker is required to pay back the transportation expense, which seems fair to me. This happened with the worker our friend hired. She only worked two days washing clothes and then said she didn't want to work there any more. She didn't even hold the baby one time and made the statement, I didn't take care of my baby so why would I care for another person's baby?  She went to work at the market and rented a boarding room.  After a few weeks my wife told her that she should pay P1,500 back to the man because he was going to pay her P3,000 per month which would be about P100 per day.  She agreed and has paid him P1000 so far.

 

I will tell you why this worker didn't turn out to be a good choice. She was a distant relative. My wife didn't know her well enough to know much about her. My wife didn't know that she is lazy and that she doesn't like babies. She didn't even know if she was honest or a thief.

 

The relatives who we allowed to live with us were her younger sister and first cousins who she knew very well.  All of them have been hard workers with a good attitude, honest and not thieves.  And, none of them went out to bars whoring around. They were all nice ladies.

 

Everyone should consider these things when deciding who you allow to live in your home.

 

One first cousin was begging to come live with us but my wife knew she had stolen from other family members and she was a bragging person thinking she was smarter and better than others her age and she was lazy. She is very pretty and smart but there's no way we would even allow her to visit us.

[Markham]

This law is not only hurting the kasambahay themselves but the working middle class, putting the entire cost and headache of dealing with dysfunctional government agencies on them. Short-sighted, ill-conceived, and poorly planned would be an understatement.

Exactly! It has been suggested to me that one way around this law would be to grant ones' kasambahay lodgers leases on full full board terms and rather than pay rent in cash, they donate their time; their "salary", one would argue, is in the form of a bonus for hard work.

 

If there is any hint of this law being enforced, I suggest thousands of kasambahay will suddenly find themselves out of work, or they'll suddenly become "close" family members. How many employers are going to line up at Pagibig, SSS and PhilHealth offices on a monthly basis to pay their dues, as well as the bureaucratic nightmares of registering their kasambahay in the first place - and de-registering them when they leave.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Markham

[Jake]

 

This law is not only hurting the kasambahay themselves but the working middle class, putting the entire cost and headache of dealing with dysfunctional government agencies on them. Short-sighted, ill-conceived, and poorly planned would be an understatement.

Exactly! It has been suggested to me that one way around this law would be to grant ones' kasambahay lodgers leases on full full board terms and rather than pay rent in cash, they donate their time; their "salary", one would argue, is in the form of a bonus for hard work.

 

If there is any hint of this law being enforced, I suggest thousands of kasambahay will suddenly find themselves out of work, or they'll suddenly become "close" family members. How many employers are going to line up at Pagibig, SSS and PhilHealth offices on a monthly basis to pay their dues, as well as the bureaucratic nightmares of registering their kasambahay in the first place - and de-registering them when they leave.

 

Excellent point gentlemen,

 

I can see the genuine concern of the current president to fast track this bill into law, after sitting in legislation

for about 16 years.  It's primarily for the local domestic workers.

 

I briefly read the attached PDF and my understanding is that any local private employment agencies (PEA)

registered with the DOLE (Dept of Labor and Employment) will provide service for both the employer and

employee -- for a service fee against the employer, of course.  

 

I can see where this is going -- just think about the other agencies under this department.  One would assume

that any local private recruitment agencies authorized by DOLE is above board and is well managed??

 

I can see it now -- new custom built tables (with drawers) for the midnight under the table deals....he, he.

 

It's more Pun in da Pil-lip-pines!

Edited September 1, 2013 by Jake
spill chek

[Thomas]

Well. Perhaps some problem when they don't have proper ID.

Some administration, but it seem all/most can be done through internet 

(See the links to SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-Ibig in the article Americano linked too  http://ph.news.yahoo.com/8list-guide-kasambahay-law-041017418.html

Otherwice you can send the kasambahays to sit and wait  :)

 

The fees will probably not make you go bankruptcy either  :)    Around 14 % totaly (210-350p) per month.

[MikeB]

Some administration, but it seem all/most can be done through internet 

The internet, what's that? Just as an example, the Bureau of Immigration website for the country has been down for at least a week. If it was so easy there wouldn't be this backlash of complaints. If you're interested you can read up on it, there's a lot more to this then you're getting here.

The fees will probably not make you go bankruptcy either      Around 14 % totaly (210-350p) per month.

See post #23.