JAKARTA - Indonesia has enacted a new law on domestic workers, placing household employment under a legal framework that requires agreements or work contracts between domestic workers and employers after the House of Representatives (DPR) passed the bill on April 21.

In a State Secretariat release issued in Jakarta on April 21, Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas, speaking on behalf of President Prabowo Subianto, said the law covers recruitment, the scope of household work, employment relations between domestic workers and employers “based on agreements or work agreements” and the rights and obligations of workers, employers, and placement companies. 

Separately, official DPR coverage said lawmakers and the government completed deliberations on the bill before approving a final draft consisting of 12 chapters and 37 articles.

As quoted by official DPR media from Gedung Nusantara I, Senayan, Jakarta, on April 20, the chairman of DPR’s legislative body Bob Hasan said some poor workers are already covered under the National Social Security System as recipients of government-paid contribution assistance (PBI).

He said that status is known to both the employer and the worker, meaning the employment relationship is based on an agreement or work contract, which provides legal certainty.

The DPR said domestic workers who are not covered by government-paid health insurance assistance will have their BPJS health contributions paid by the employer, as arranged in the employment agreement or work contract. In a separate update published on April 21, the DPR also said the new law’s implementing regulations must be issued within one year after the law takes effect.

The law closes a legislative process that officials said had stretched for 22 years. In an earlier official Ministry of Manpower statement issued in Jakarta on September 11 last year, Manpower Minister Yassierli said Indonesia had 4.2 million domestic workers. 

He further argued that the sector needed clearer legal treatment, stating, “Domestic workers also need to be given employment agreements, and their scope of work clearly regulated.”