Informal care workers may have formal employment relationships (e.g., with national insurance), but they can also work informally receiving hourly payments, without any employment rights. Because care workers are currently considered to be solely an occupation (without being a regulated profession), they do not have a professional council that can audit the quality of care provided. It is common to find some health care assistants or technical nurses who have difficulty in finding a specialised job to be employed as care workers (formally employed or not); however, in these cases, the nursing council would hold no responsibility upon these individuals.

All employments in Hong Kong, including informal care workers, are regulated by the Employment Ordinance (Department of Justice, 2019a). Protection of employment, such as wage, paid leave, medical attention, maternity protection, and termination of contract, are all covered in the ordinance. The Labour Department of the Government is the unit responsible for monitoring the compliance of the Employment Ordinance.

Foreign domestic helper is a special type of employment in Hong Kong that is both regulated by the Immigration Department and Labour Department. Foreign domestic helpers must work in a full-time lived-in mode and only perform domestic duties for the employer in relation to his/her household (Imigration Department, 2019). If the employment contract is terminated or expired without renewal, they are required to return to their home country. The duration of stay under this employment is not recognised for applying for permanent residence in Hong Kong. Regarding the wage protection of foreign domestic helper, the Statutory Minimum Allowable Wage (effective from 29 September 2018) is HK$4,520 per month with food provision, or with an extra HK$1,075 per month if without food provision (HKSAR Government, 2019c).

For local domestic helpers, in addition to the protection under the Employment Ordinance, their wage is regulated by the Minimum Wage Ordinance. With effect from 1 May 2019, the Statutory Minimum Wage rate is HK$37.5 per hour (Labour Department, 2020).

References:

Department of Justice. (2019a). Cap. 57 Employment Ordinance. Hong Kong: Department of Justice, HKSAR Retrieved from https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap57.

HKSAR Government. (2019c). Press Releases – Minimum Allowable Wage and food allowance for foreign domestic helpers to increase. Retrieved from https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201809/28/P2018092800357.htm

Imigration Department. (2019). Employment Contract for a Domestic Helper Recruited from Outside Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Imigration Department, HKSAR Retrieved from https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/forms/forms/id407.html.

Labour Department. (2020, 8 November 2019). Statutory Minimum Wage. Retrieved from https://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/news/mwo.htm

There is no specific information related to employment condition and safeguarding concerns of informal workers for dementia in India.

There is no specific information related to employment condition and safeguarding concerns of informal workers for dementia-specific care in Indonesia. However, there are several protective measures for informal care workers in Indonesia, especially for domestic helpers. By rule of Ministry of Labour No. 2/2015, referring to International Labour Organisation Convention No.189, domestic workers are stated to have the rights for a safe working condition (Wu, 2014). The rule details sanctions against agencies that provide domestic worker services and exploited this relationship. However, domestic workers are considered by law as “entrepreneur” and, thus, they are not given the same protection that other types of lower-paid employments receive (e.g., factory workers). There is no regulation on rights related to minimum wage, working hours and rest times, leave allowances, communication rights, and written employment contracts.

References:

Wu, T. (2014). The Asian Family, the State and Care for Urban Older Adults: A Comparison of Singapore, China, and Indonesia. July.

Employment for care workers for dementia is often informal (in Kenya unorganized and unregulated domestic workers often referred to as house helps are employed informally (through special arrangements between the individual (caregiver) and the family member) as caregivers). This is most commonly the case in families where family members are unavailable to provide care due to their employment status. The monthly pay for the informal care worker greatly varies depending on the location but without health care insurance or social security (Venas News, 2019). Less than 10% have formal contracts (International Labour Organization, 2017). There is no formal curriculum developed for training on dementia care giving in Kenya and thus the rights of informal care workers for dementia is not recognized at the health care system or at the policy level (World Health Organization, 2017c).

References:

International Labour Organization. (2017). Planning for success: a Manual for domestic workers and their organizations. International Labour Organization (ILO), Jakarta. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—asia/—ro-bangkok/—ilo-jakarta/documents/publication/wcms_579472.pdf

Venas News. (2019). Salary of a Maid/House help in Kenya 2019. VENASNEWS, 24 Janyary. Nairobi, Kenya. https://venasnews.co.ke/2019/01/24/salary-of-a-maidhouse-help-in-kenya-2019/

World Health Organization. (2017c). WHO series on long-term care: Towards long-term care systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241513388

No data is available since no disaggregated data on carers, whom they care for, and the type/intensity of care provided, has been gathered.

South African labour law does not cater for long-term care employment conditions to care for a family member. This will most likely be at the discretion of the relevant employer, for which these long-term care arrangements may be rare.