Homemakers need to be remunerated for the domestic work they do: Calcutta HC

Kolkata: Homemakers should never be treated as “unemployed” as they too have every right to be remunerated for the domestic work they do round the year, the Calcutta High Court observed on Thursday.

“Homemakers cannot be deemed as unemployed. They are self-earning individuals. The domestic work they do throughout the day deserves to be remunerated,” noted the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta.

Making reference to a hearing in a 15-year-old case, Justice Gupta observed that the contribution of the homemakers is much more than others.

“They work 365 days a year without taking any leave. If anyone is employed to do that domestic work, payment must be made for that work. The savings in the family on that count is the contribution of the homemakers towards their families.

"So, there is a financial value of the domestic work done by the homemakers. Hence, they should never be considered as unemployed. Rather they should be treated as self-earners,” Justice Gupta noted.

Justice Gupta made the observation in a case where the family members of a homemaker killed in a road accident claimed a certain amount from the insurance company by showing a specific income earned by the deceased woman.

However, the insurance company refused to pay the amount on the ground that the earnings of the deceased woman as claimed by her family members cannot be that high considering that she was a homemaker.

The woman was killed in a road accident in 2008.

Justice Gupta also charted an approximate calculation on the basis of the principal income of the deceased and the interest accrued on it for the last 15 years, fixing her monthly principal income at Rs 3,000.

He then fixed a total compensation amount of Rs 6,41,200 for the victim’s family.