ENSafrica celebrates a win for domestic workers

Teaser: These black women are not ‘invisible’ or ‘powerless’ but on the contrary, they have a voice, and we are listening.

Claire Jamie-Lee Nolan of ENSafrica’s Pro Bono Office writes:

Following the judgment in Mahlangu and another versus Minister of Labour and others, domestic workers must now be given the same rights/protection afforded by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993 (Coida) to an ’employee’.

In this case, the applicants, Sylvia Mahlangu (Sylvia) – the surviving daughter of a domestic worker, namely Maria Mahlangu (Mahlangu) and the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (union) successfully challenged the constitutionality of Section 1 of Coida, which excluded domestic workers from the definition of an ’employee’. The definition as it was, meant that unlike other workers, domestic workers and their dependents were left with no protection under Coida.

Maria Mahlangu was employed as a domestic worker. In 2012, she drowned in her employer’s swimming pool. Her body was found floating in the swimming pool by her employer.
Following her mother’s death, Sylvia, who was financially dependent on her mother, approached the Department of Labour with a Coida claim for her mother’s death. Sylvia was informed that she could neither claim compensation under Coida nor could she claim unemployment insurance benefits for her loss.
Sylvia, assisted by the union, launched an application in the High Court to have Section 1 of Coida declared unconstitutional (relating to the exclusion of domestic workers from the definition of an ’employee’).

In May 2019, the High Court handed down an order declaring the exclusion of domestic workers from Coida as unconstitutional. Later, the High Court declared that the declaration of invalidity must be applied retrospectively (applies even before the order) to provide relief to other domestic workers who were injured or died at work prior to ­­the granting of the order. The Constitutional Court confirmed the declaration of constitutional invalidity of Section 1 of the Coida and ordered that the declaration of invalidity must be applied retrospectively.
What does this mean?

Domestic workers (and dependents) will have social security in the event of injury, disablement or death at the workplace. It also means that domestic workers who suffered work-related injuries, diseases or death from April 27, 1994 are also able to submit their claims.
Details: www.labour.gov.za