NEW DELHI: Hiring a maid or driver could soon get more complicated. The householder may have to issue an appointment letter that clearly lists the terms and conditions of employment.That’s if the government accepts a labour ministry proposal to this effect that’s being finalised as part of efforts to ensure that the rights of domestic workers are protected.The move is in line with India’s commitment at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to strengthen its unorganised sector, which constitutes 93% of the country’s total workforce, a senior government official told ET. “There is a lot of pressure from the ILO that India should move from an informal to a formal workforce,” said the official, who was part of the Indian delegation that attended an ILO event last month.Given the numbers involved, the government is looking at the proposal as meeting the ILO’s prescription halfway.“Considering that our informal or unorganised sector is huge and it would not be entirely possible to move to formalisation, we have agreed to strengthen our unorganised sector,” said the official, who didn’t want to be named.to make it mandatory for employers to issue formal appointment letters to all such domestic help working for a monthly salary.“A formal appointment letter would ensure that domestic workers are treated not just as ‘helpers’ who are ‘part of the family’ but as employed workers entitled to the rights and dignity that employment brings with it,” said the official cited above. While there are no reliable statistics on the matter, it is generally estimated by experts that India has approximately five million domestic workers.Their contribution is rarely included in economic statistics.Hired domestic workers are estimated to constitute nearly 1.5% of the estimated 350 million-strong unorganised workforce in India, easing the burden of individual households in return for remuneration.Their tasks include care of children and the elderly, cooking, driving, cleaning, grocery shopping, running errands and taking care of household pets, particularly in urban areas.An appointment letter would be aimed at addressing some of the challenges that these people face.Workers have little recourse if they end up being paid less than promised as nothing has been put down in writing. Then there’s lack of basic health and hygiene facilities, no provision for weekly holidays, maternity leave and health benefits apart from the threat of mistreatment and sexual abuse. Protests could result in dismissal with little option for redress.To be sure, any move to make an appointment letter mandatory could be met with howls of protest on the part of employers as an additional level of bureaucracy and a possible avenue for harassment, analysts said. Several laws such as the Unorganised Social Security Act, 2008, and the Sexual Harassment against Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, besides the Minimum Wages Schedules notified in various states, refer to domestic workers.