The Domestic Services industry in South Africa is changing rapidly. While this sector used to be very informal, the South African government has taken significant steps to improve its regulations in order to better protect the rights of Domestic Workers. A lot of efforts has been put in the development of labour legislations to recognize Domestic Workers as “Employees”, thus imposing Domestic Employers to comply with certain legislative obligations towards their Domestic staff or face penalties such as fines and imprisonment for non-compliance.
Many Domestic Employers today are still not aware of, nor are compliant with these regulations. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is seeing an increase in the number of domestic services cases where Domestic Employers are dragged to the CCMA and they find themselves exposed due to the fact that they do not comply with the current legislations applicable to Domestic Workers and their Employers.
SMART HELPERS CENTER is committed to improving the Domestic Services industry. Our mission is to revolutionize the support systems available to both Helpers and Employers by formalizing Helpers’ training, conducting trustable pre-employment checks and assisting employers to comply with legislations and avoid being exploited at the labour courts due to the fact that they were not aware of all the legalities involved in the administration of the working relationship.
Since compliance of Employers with the different legislations has become a crucial factor, SMART HELPERS CENTER entered into collaboration with various partners in the private and public sectors to bring about a unique solution that would excellently address and conveniently resolve the compliance issue on behalf of Employers.
“Smart compliance” is a subscription plan available at Smart Helpers Center (SHC) for domestic Employers who need assistance in complying with the legislations involved in the administration of Employer-Employee relationship as stipulated in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). Compliance to the BCEA is a requirement that all Employers should acknowledge and abide by to avoid fines and imprisonment.
“Smart Compliance” plan is only available to domestic Employers who have signed up for this package at Smart Helpers Center and have given rights to Smart Helpers Center to formally appoint a Helper on their behalf and manage the Employee-Employer relations between the Employer and their domestic Helper on a month to month basis.
- Any person that employs domestic staff (nanny, domestic worker, cleaner, cook, caregiver, au-pair…) on a full or part-time basis, but is not compliant with any one of these legislative requirements of the BCEA: a. COIDA registration b. UIF registration c. Formal written contract of employment d. Payslips issuing
- Any person that is contemplating employing a Domestic Helper in the near future
- Any person that is contemplating terminating the services of his/her Domestic Helper
- Any person that employs domestic staff but do not have time to follow up on legislative compliance
- Any domestic Employer that would like to outsource HR management for their domestic staff member(s)