How to Hire a Maid or a Domestic Worker in Colombia
Ever wondered how to hire a Colombian maid or domestic worker. Then, this guide is for you. Read on.
In Colombia, domestic service employees such as maids must be bound by an employment contract, that is, they cannot be bound by a service provision contract.
Domestic service includes a list of activities typical of the home such as cleaning, preparing food, washing and ironing clothes, childcare and any other activity related to the employer’s home.
Domestic workers can be linked under a written or verbal employment contract, for a fixed or indefinite term. They can be hired to work full time or for days. It all depends on the needs of the employer.
Whoever hires a domestic service employee must fulfill a series of work obligations that are indicated in Adetail in the following article. Please note that the rights of a domestic worker are almost the same as any other employee.
What You Must Pay a Domestic Worker?
The domestic worker must be paid the following:
- A salary that must not be less than the minimum salary including salary in kind. Salary in kind for domestic servants. In the case of domestic workers who work for days, the daily salary cannot be less than the equivalent of the monthly minimum salary, and for this the minimum salary is divided by 30.
- Social benefits. Social benefits in domestic service employees
- Social Security. Social security in domestic service
- Extra work, night, Sunday and holidays. Overtime and surcharges at night, on Sunday and on holidays
- Transportation assistance. Transportation assistance in domestic service
- Family allowance.
- Working holidays.
- Housekeeping vacations
Many foreigners make a big error paying a maid more because they feel the daily payment is too small, not knowing about liquidation and benefits. Benefits and liquidation are based on the daily payments.
This value is over 50% of what is paid on a daily basis. Then if a judge gets involved with a lawsuit fines may be applied to not providing uniform, health insurance, pension and other benefits.
What You Need to Know Before You Hire a Colombian Maid or a Domestic Worker?
When hiring a domestic worker such as a maid, keep the following recommendations in mind. Here are some special recommendations when hiring domestic workers.
Do not pay him or her a full salary, since this does not exist in domestic service, unless you pay him or her 13 minimum wages.
When you pay your salary, have the employee sign a receipt.
You must grant permission to attend medical appointments.
If you hire him or her for days, you can pay the day you work or at the end of the month, and in any case you must pay the social benefits on the dates indicated by law.
If you provide food or housing to the employee, then put it in writing the benefits that you are going to give to these employees, which may be wages in kind, or payments that do not constitute wages.
Settle and pay social benefits when applicable.
If you are dismissed without just cause, pay the corresponding compensation.
The value you give to your internal employee’s food and housing must not exceed the equivalent of 30% of the minimum wage.
Affiliate your domestic employee to social security even if he or she is in the SISBEN, as you will be financially responsible for any illness or accident suffered by the employee.
In the case of layoffs, keep in mind that you should not deliver them to the employee until the contract ends. While the contract is in force, you must consign them in the severance fund or you will lose them and you may be forced to pay them again.
Pay social security as provided by law. The UGPP can also supervise it.
Our Story
James Lindzey founded the website ColombiaVisas.com, which is constantly updated with new information explaining visa resolutions, procedures, and laws in Colombia to expats. James has worked as a private investigator and paralegal in the United States through the 90s until he moved to Colombia in 2005. James arrived in Colombia in 2005 and started doing visas for expats, but currently works as Director of Legal Services for Visas by James, and Colombia Legal & Associates SAS since June of 2023.
Colombia Legal & Associates acquired the brand name Visas by James as it became a more familiar and easy way for foreigners to remember the business, than the previous Visas y Tramites Internacionales.
While MedellinLawyer.com focuses more on legal issues for expats, ColombiaVisas.com focuses more on visas, and holds the trademark Visas by James. ColombiaVisas.com is the oldest website and provider of visa information for expats in Colombia. We are proud to be the first and always on the cutting edge of providing interactive website content to our visitors.
In addition to our visa services our agency offers a full range of legal and accounting services to our clients. We are able to assist better in document collection services in the United States because of James previous legal experience in the United States.
