# Sindh Domestic Workers Welfare Act, 2025

> Unofficial digital reference edition. Consult the official sources or Gazette when legal accuracy is material.

- **Jurisdiction:** Sindh
- **Subject:** Labour, employment and social protection
- **Instrument type:** Act
- **Citation:** Sindh Act No. XVIII of 2026
- **Enacted:** 2026-06-16
- **Catalogue verified:** 2026-10-24
- **Canonical HTML:** [View the formatted edition](https://law.legumlawfirm.co/Sindh-Domestic-Workers-Welfare-Act/)
- **Latest amendment:** No subsequent amending enactment identified in the official registers checked through 24 October 2026.

## Content

### Sections

- 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
- 2. Definitions.
- 3. Prohibition on employment.
- 4. Protection against harassment.
- 5. Rights and entitlements of domestic workers.
- 6. Employment on work.
- 7. Leave and Holidays.
- 8. Wages during leave or holiday period.
- 9. Minimum Wages.
- 10. Accommodation.
- 11. Medical examination, vaccination and inoculation.
- 12. Notice of certain accident.
- 13. Termination of employment.
- 14. Time and conditions of payment of wages.
- 15. Prohibition to pay below the minimum rate of wages.
- 16. Fund.
- 17. Governing Body.
- 18. Registration of domestic workers.
- 19. Registration of employers.
- 20. Manner of claiming benefits.
- 21. Resolution of disputes by Dispute Resolution Committee.
- 22. Appellate Authority.
- 23. Powers of the Dispute Resolution Committees and Appellate Authorities.
- 24. Power to issue directions.
- 25. Penalties.
- 26. Presumption.
- 27. Prosecution.
- 28. Trial of offence.
- 29. Labour Inspectors.
- 30. Powers and Functions of Inspectors.
- 31. Protection of actions taken under the Act.
- 32. Power to make rules.
- 33. Power to make regulations.
- 34. Power to remove difficulties.

An Act to provide for the regulation of employment of domestic workers in Province of the Sindh.

WHEREAS, it is expedient to provide for the regulation of employment of domestic workers in Province of the Sindh to protect their rights by regulating their terms of employment and working conditions of service and to ensure the basic needs are provided to domestic workers including rest breaks, medical care, minimum number of meals, working time, freedom from discrimination and an act of harassment and to protect their safety and dignity; and to make provision for their social protection and to provide for the matters ancillary thereto or connected therewith.

It is hereby enacted as follows:-

### 1. Short title, extent and commencement.

(1) This Act may be called the Sindh Domestic Workers Welfare Bill, 2025.

(2) It shall extend to the whole of the Province of Sindh.

(3) It shall come into force at once.

### 2. Definitions.

(1) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context -

(i) "Appellate Authority" means an authority appointed under section 22;

(ii) "beneficiary" means a domestic worker or his legal heirs of a deceased domestic worker eligible to receive benefits from the Domestic Workers Welfare Fund;

(iii) “Board” means the Minimum Wages Board established under section 3 of the Sindh Minimum Wages Act 2015;

(iv) “Committee” means a Dispute Resolution Committee constituted under the Act;

(v) “Department” means the Labour and Human Resources Department, Government of Sindh;

(vi) “dispute” means any dispute or conflict arises between the Employer and domestic workers concerning employment or the terms of employment or the conditions of work of domestic workers;

(vii) “domestic work” means any work which takes place within or for the household and includes child care, old age care, sick care or natal/post-natal care and the matters ancillary thereto;

(viii) “domestic worker” means a person who does domestic work in a household;

(ix) “employer” means -

(a) in relation to a person or a group of persons registered under this Act who employs domestic workers collectively responsible for employment of domestic workers;

(b) in relation to an establishment, the owner of the establishment or a person registered under thisAct and having the ultimate control over the affairs of the establishment or agency as well as any other person to whom the affairs of such establishment or agency are entrusted whether such person is called an agent, a manager, an occupier or by any other name;

(x) “family” in relation to a domestic worker, means the spouse, a child below the age of eighteen (18) years and includes a disabled child above the age of eighteen (18) years with disability of fifty percent or more;

(xi) “fund” means the Domestic Workers Welfare Fund constituted under section 16;

(xii) “government” means the Government of Sindh;

(xiii) “governing body” means the Governing Body constituted under section 17;

(xiv) “household” means individuals who comprise a family unit and who live together under the same roof;

(xv) “inspector” means an Inspector notified under this Act;

(xvi) “institution” means the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution established under section 3 of the Sindh Employees Social Security Act, 2016 (Sindh Act No.VI of 2016);

(xvii) “labour court” means a Labour Court established under section 45 of the Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 (Sindh Act No.XXIX of 2013);

(xviii) “live-in-domestic worker” means a worker who has been provided with accommodation by the Employer;

(xix) “prescribed” means prescribed by the rules; and

(xx) “wages” means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money, which shall, if the terms and conditions of employment, express or implied, are fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment, but does not include -

(a) any contribution paid by the employer in respect of such person under any scheme of social insurance or to a pension fund or provident fund;

(b) gift or anything given in kind.

(2) The words and expressions used but not defined in this Act shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in the relevant Labour laws.

### 3. Prohibition on employment.

No child below the age of sixteen (16) years shall be allowed to work in a household in any capacity:

Provided that no domestic worker under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be engaged in a domestic work, except involving light work in a household.

Explanation.- The term “light work” means a domestic work is not likely to harm the health or impede the physical or mental development of a child engaged in the domestic work.

### 4. Protection against harassment.

In case of any complaint of harassment made by a woman domestic worker against a household or employer, or by any female member of a household or a female employer against a domestic worker, alleging harassment by a domestic worker, the matter shall fall within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsperson appointed under Section 7 of the Sindh Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 (Act No. IV of 2010), who shall inquire into and decide such complaint in accordance with the provisions of the said Act.

### 5. Rights and entitlements of domestic workers.

(1) A domestic worker shall not be employed under the bonded labour system or forced or partly forced labor system.

(2) No domestic worker shall be discriminated in recruitment, continuance of employment, deciding wages, benefits and other rights on grounds of religion, race, caste, creed, sex, ethnic background, and place of birth residence, domicile, migration or any other reason.

(3) The domestic worker shall be addressed as "domestic worker”, not "servant".

(4) No extra work may be assigned to the domestic worker without free will of the domestic worker and extra remuneration.

(5) The employer shall provide dignified working conditions and occupational safety and health measures to the domestic worker.

(6) The benefits for a domestic worker include benefits provided under the Sindh Employees Social Security Act 2015 and Employees’ Old Age Benefits Act 1976.

### 6. Employment on work.

(1) Every employment or appointment of a domestic worker shall be subject to issuance of a letter of employment in the prescribed form.

(2) The employer shall send a copy of the letter of employment issued under sub-section (1) to the Inspector concerned manually or through digital means, and the employer may keep a copy of identification documents of a domestic worker during the course of employment.

(3) An employer shall, within sixty days of the commencement of this Act, arrange for the issuance of a letter of employment under sub-section (1) to each of the domestic workers employed on work in or for a household.

(4) A full-time or live-in-domestic worker shall be liable to discharge his duty for only eight hours a day.

(5) No full-time or Live-In-Domestic or part time domestic worker shall be required to work more than six days in any working week; provided that this may be mutually agreed to a seventh day paid at the rate of double the rate of wages ordinarily paid by the Employer to the domestic worker.

### 7. Leave and Holidays.

(1) A domestic worker engaged in domestic work shall be entitled to festival holidays with full wages in a year as per faith and religion.

(2) A female domestic worker engaged in domestic work shall be entitled to six (06) weeks of paid maternity leave;

Provided that, where the worker is not registered with any relevant institution, the employer shall directly pay the amount equivalent to the maternity leave benefit to the woman domestic worker, in addition to her monthly wage;

Further provided that in the case of a full-time or live-in domestic worker, the employer shall be responsible for the full payment of the maternity leave. The employer’s liability shall be deemed discharged if such payment has been duly made in lieu of contribution towards the worker’s monthly wages, in the proportionate amount admissible in the case of a part-time worker.

(3) Every domestic worker engaged in domestic work shall be entitled to ten causal with full wages in a year, and a year shall commence from the date of appointment but leave period of causal leave shall not exceed two days consecutively.

(4) Every domestic worker engaged in domestic work shall be entitled to eight sick leave with full wages in a year, and a year shall commence from the date of appointment. Sick leave shall be subject to provision of medical certificate of registered medical practitioner.

### 8. Wages during leave or holiday period.

For each day of the leave or holidays allowed to a domestic worker under section 7, he or she must be paid at rate equivalent to the daily average amount, which, during the three months preceding the leave or holidays, was being earned by the domestic worker.

### 9. Minimum Wages.

Every domestic worker shall be paid such wages within such period of time as may be provided in the letter of employment, but such wages must in no case be less than the wages specified by the Government under the Sindh Minimum WagesAct2015(Sindh Act No.VIII of 2016).

### 10. Accommodation.

Every employer shall, under the express terms and conditions of employment, ensure the provision of adequate accommodation for any live-in domestic worker who, of her or his own free will, resides at the place of work, and shall further ensure decent living conditions for such worker. The standards and details of such accommodation and living conditions shall be as may be prescribed.

### 11. Medical examination, vaccination and inoculation.

Every Employer, on yearly basis, shall ensure medical examination of a domestic worker in a household by a registered medical practitioner and such domestic worker shall also be vaccinated and inoculated against such diseases at such intervals as may be prescribed, and the expenses, if any, of such medical examination, vaccination and inoculation shall be borne by the employer.

### 12. Notice of certain accident.

Where in any household, an accident occurs which causes death or bodily injury whereby any domestic worker injured is prevented from resuming his or her work in the household during the forty-eight hours after the accident occurred or which is of any nature which may be prescribed in this behalf, the employer of the domestic worker shall send a notice thereof to such authorities, in such form and within such time, as may be prescribed.

### 13. Termination of employment.

The termination of employment shall be subject to one month's prior notice in writing either by the domestic worker or by the employer and in lieu of notice, one month's wages shall be paid calculated on the basis of average of wages earned during the preceding three months.

### 14. Time and conditions of payment of wages.

(1) The wages of every domestic worker shall be paid before the expiry of the fifth day, after the last day of the wage- period in respect of which the wages are payable.

(2) No wage period, so fixed, shall exceed one month.

(3) Where the employment of any domestic worker is terminated by employer, the wages earned by him or her shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day (within forty-eight hours) from the day on which his employment is terminated.

(4) All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both.

### 15. Prohibition to pay below the minimum rate of wages.

(1) No employer shall pay any domestic worker wages at a rate lower than the rate declared under this Act to be the minimum rate of wages for such domestic worker.

(2) Any employer who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding forty percent of Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time and if the court trying such contravention by order so directs, shall also pay to the domestic worker concerned such sum as may be specified in the order to represent the difference between the amount actually paid to such domestic worker and the amount which would have been paid to him had there been no such contravention.

(3) All claims of a domestic worker relating to wages or claims arising out of deductions from wages against the Employer, as the case may be, shall be settled and recovered in the same manner as is provided in the Sindh Minimum Wages Act 2015 (Sindh Act No.VIII of 2016).

(4) If the Authority hearing any application under this section is satisfied that no amount to be paid as wages is due from the employer to the applicant, it shall reject the application and if the application, in the opinion of the Authority, is malicious or vexatious, the Authority when rejecting it, may direct the applicant to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty-five percent of the Minimum wages fixed for the unskilled workers, at the relevant time, to the employer.

(5) An appeal against the direction made under sub- section (3) or sub-section (4) may be preferred, within thirty days of the date on which the direction was made, before the Labour Court within whose jurisdiction the cause of action to which the appeal relates arose –

(a) by the Employer, if the total sum directed to be paid by way of wages exceeds twenty thousand rupees:

Provided that no appeal under this clause shall lie unless the memorandum of appeal is accompanied by a certificate of authority to the effect that the appellant has deposited with the authority the amount payable under the direction appealed against.

(b) by the applicant directed under sub-section (4) of this section to pay a penalty.

(6) The decision of appeal shall be final and shall not in any manner be questioned by any person in any Court of Law or before any authority.

### 16. Fund.

(1) As soon as the commencement of this Act, the Government shall establish a Fund to be called “Domestic Workers Welfare Fund”, to be managed by the Governing Body, for the purpose to provide social protection, safety and welfare measures of domestic workers.

(2) The Fund shall consist of –

(a) all grants and loans as may be made to the Fund by the Government;

(b) all sums received by the Fund from other sources as may be decoded upon by the Government and all voluntary contributions from the philanthropists;

(c) income from the investments made and properties and assets acquired from the Fund; and

(d) proceeds of loans raised by the Governing Body.

(3) The Fund shall be applied to -

(a) financing of measures including medical, training and skill development;

(b) any money in aid of any scheme for the welfare of the domestic workers; and

(c) meet the expenditures in respect of the cost of management and administration of the Fund.

### 17. Governing Body.

The Governing Body for this Act shall be same as notified under Section 5 of the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Act, 2016 (Sindh Act No.VI of 2016).

### 18. Registration of domestic workers.

Every domestic worker shall make an application for registration in a manner as prescribed to the institution either manually or through digital means.

### 19. Registration of employers.

Every Employer shall make an application for registration in a manner as may be prescribed and every such Employer shall be provided with a registration number, which shall be renewable after completion of every three years.

### 20. Manner of claiming benefits.

(1) All claims for benefits under this Act shall be made within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, and shall be accompanied by such documents, information and evidence as to entitlement, as may be provided in the regulations laid down by the Governing Body.

(2) The payment in respect of benefits shall be made in such manner, and at such time and place as may be provided in the regulations.

(3) The payment in respect of benefits under this Act, shall be made from the Fund in the prescribed manner.

### 21. Resolution of disputes by Dispute Resolution Committee.

(1) The Department may, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute a Committee to be called the Dispute Resolution Committee for the effective enforcement of the Act.

(2) The Dispute Resolution Committee, having such number of members and composition as may be prescribed, shall be headed by an Officer not blow the rank of BPS-16 or such other officer as may be notified by the Department.

(3) All disputes or complaints arising out of and in connection with enforcement under the Act shall be heard and resolved through an award by Dispute Resolution Committee:

Provided that every such dispute shall be presented within thirty (30) days from the date on which the dispute arises.

(4) Any party aggrieved of the award made under sub-section (3), may, within thirty (30) days of the date on which the award was made, prefer an appeal before the Appellate Authority.

### 22. Appellate Authority.

(1) The Department shall appoint an Appellate Authority in each District to hear and decide the appeals preferred against the award of a Dispute Resolution Committee.

(2) The Appellate Authority may confirm, modify or reverse the award of a Dispute Resolution Committee.

### 23. Powers of the Dispute Resolution Committees and Appellate Authorities.

Every Dispute Resolution Committee and Appellate Authority shall, while holding an enquiry regarding a dispute or complaint under this Act or the rules made thereunder, have same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act V of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely:-

(a) enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

(b) compelling the production of documents and material objects;

(c) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses; and

(d) such other matters as may be prescribed.

### 24. Power to issue directions.

The Department may, from time to time, issue such directions to the Employer(s) and Domestic Worker(s) as may be necessary for the effective enforcement of the provisions of the Act.

### 25. Penalties.

(1) Any Employer who fails to comply with or contravenes any provisions of the Act other than section 3, shall, on conviction, be punishable with fine, which for the first offence, not exceeding twenty-five percent of Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time, and for a second or subsequent offence with fine not exceeding forty percent of Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time.

(2) Whoever knowingly contravenes the provisions of section 3, shall be liable to punishment with fine which may extend to two times of the Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time but which shall not be less than one time of the Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time.

(3) Any Employer or any such person who willfully obstructs an Inspector, or fails to produce on demand thereunder any evidence, statement or other document, shall be punishable with fine not exceeding forty percent of Minimum Wages, fixed for unskilled workers, by the Government at relevant time.

### 26. Presumption.

A child present in a household along with one or both of his parents who are employed therein shall not be presumed to be in employment within the meaning of this Act unless proved.

### 27. Prosecution.

No prosecution under this Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder shall be instituted except by or with the previous sanction of the Dispute Resolution Committee.

### 28. Trial of offence.

No Court, inferior to that of a Magistrate of the First Class, shall try any offence against this Act or any rule made thereunder.

### 29. Labour Inspectors.

(1) The Department may notify the Labour Inspectors under this Act from amongst the officers of Department or Local Government or Social Welfare Department; provided that the Department shall notify the officers from the Local Government or Social Welfare Department in consultation or consensus therewith within their respective areas of jurisdiction for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) An Inspector notified under sub-section (1) shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (XLV of 1860).

### 30. Powers and Functions of Inspectors.

(1) No household shall be subjected to inspection except on receipt of a complaint and on direction of a Dispute Resolution Committee. The method of such inspection shall be same as prescribed.

(2) An Inspector on direction of Dispute Resolution Committee may, for the discharge of any functions under this Act or the rules made thereunder -

(a) file a case through the public prosecutor in the Court of competent jurisdiction; and

(b) exercise such other powers conferred upon him as may be prescribed for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

### 31. Protection of actions taken under the Act.

No suit, prosecution or other proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is done in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or rules or regulations made thereunder.

### 32. Power to make rules.

Government may make rules, not inconsistent with this Act, for carrying out the purposes of the Act.

### 33. Power to make regulations.

The Governing Body may, with the prior approval of Government, make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, and rules, for the matters indicated under sub-section (1) of section 20, for the carrying out the purposes of this Act.

### 34. Power to remove difficulties.

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may, by order published in the official Gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removal of the difficulty.

## Accuracy notice

This digital version of the Sindh Domestic Workers Welfare Act, 2025 is provided as-is. Although reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy and avoid error, no warranty is made as to its accuracy or completeness. Consult the official sources or Gazette when legal accuracy is material.