Hiring a Household Helper in the Philippines: The Kasambahay Law, a Compliant Contract, and Where to Find One

What a Kasambahay Is: The Household Help You Can Hire

"Kasambahay" is the legal term for a domestic worker employed by a household, covering both live-in and live-out arrangements. It is an umbrella category that includes:

• General househelp — cleaning, marketing, dishes and daily chores; the most common role.
• Cook — dedicated to meals and food prep.
• Laundry helper (labandera) — dedicated washing and ironing, sometimes hired live-out by the day or week.
• Cleaner — focused on deeper cleaning, sometimes merged with a general helper role.

A child-minding yaya and a driver are often discussed alongside household staff but are more specialized roles — see our separate guide on hiring a helper, yaya or driver. A key reminder: one contract, one role. Don't stretch a "general helper" into helper-plus-cook-plus-laundry-plus-nanny. Agree the scope of duties up front — it is both a matter of respect and the foundation for fewer disputes later.

The Kasambahay Law (RA 10361): The Protections, With Numbers

The Domestic Workers Act of 2013 (RA 10361, the "Kasambahay Law") sets a legal floor for all household workers that every employer must observe. Here are the core rights with their section numbers — the figures in brackets are fixed by the statute itself:

• A written employment contract (Sec. 11), executed before service begins, in a language or dialect understood by both parties, with a copy each. It must contain 11 enumerated items: duties and responsibilities; period of employment; compensation; authorized deductions; hours of work and additional pay rates; rest days and leaves; board, lodging and medical attention; deployment expense agreements; loan agreements; termination conditions; and any other lawful agreed terms. DOLE must supply model contracts free of charge.
• Region-based minimum wage (Sec. 24). The statute names P2,500 for the National Capital Region, P2,000 for chartered cities and first-class municipalities, and P1,500 elsewhere — but the same section empowers the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards to issue wage orders, and they have. Those three figures are dead letters now; see the next section.
• At least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest (Sec. 21), with the day agreed in writing and religious observance respected. By agreement the parties may offset it, waive it for additional pay, or accumulate up to 5 rest days — but never simply cancel it.
• An aggregate daily rest period of 8 hours (Sec. 20), in the statute's own words. "Live-in" does not mean on call around the clock.
• 13th-month pay. Section 25 says only that "the domestic worker is entitled to a thirteenth month pay as provided for by law", delegating to PD 851: eligibility after 1 month of service in the calendar year, an amount of not less than 1/12 of the total basic salary earned that year, payable on or before 24 December (the mechanics are in how 13th-month pay is computed).
• 5 days of paid annual leave after 1 year of service (Sec. 29). Note that this runs opposite to the rule for ordinary employees: the statute expressly says any unused portion is not cumulative, not carried over, and not convertible to cash, whereas ordinary Service Incentive Leave under the Labor Code is commutable. This is one of the most frequently misreported points.
• Social contributions (Sec. 30): coverage under SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG from 1 month of service — see below.
• Decent board and lodging (Sec. 6): at least 3 adequate meals a day and humane, safe sleeping arrangements for live-in helpers. These cannot be withdrawn as punishment and cannot be charged against wages — do not import the ordinary Labor Code "facilities" deduction rule here.
• Minimum age 15 (Sec. 16): "It shall be unlawful to employ any person below fifteen (15) years of age as a domestic worker." Working children aged 15 to 17 must comply with child-protection law and are entitled to the minimum wage and every benefit under the Act.
• How wages are paid (Sec. 25): in cash, at least once a month, on time and directly to the worker; never by promissory note, voucher, coupon, token, ticket or chit; and no deductions beyond those mandated by law without the worker's written consent. Section 26 requires a pay slip every pay day, with a copy retained.
• No deposits, no debt bondage (Secs. 14 and 15): it is unlawful to require deposits against loss or damage to tools, materials, furniture and equipment, or to place the worker under debt bondage.

These are minimums you cannot go below; a contract may offer more, never less. The full employer duty checklist is in the ten legal duties of a kasambahay employer.

Minimum Wage: The Statutory Figures Are Obsolete — NCR Is Now P7,800 a Month

This is the section where stale sources do real damage. The P2,500 / P2,000 / P1,500 written into Section 24 in 2013 were only the starting floor. The same section empowers the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) to adjust rates by Wage Order, and over a decade later all 17 regions have issued kasambahay wage orders, landing at roughly three times the statutory figures. Any page still quoting P2,500 is simply wrong.

National Capital Region: P7,800 per month. The basis is Wage Order No. NCR-DW-06, approved 15 January 2026, published 22 January, and effective 7 February 2026 (P7,000 plus an P800 increase). Two details from that order are worth knowing. First, it states that "no exemption shall be allowed" — there is no "we only employ one person" concession. Second, its coverage includes live-in and live-out helpers, general househelp, yaya, cooks, gardeners and laundry persons, but excludes service providers, family drivers, and occasional or sporadic workers (for drivers see hiring a driver in the Philippines).

Other regions: on NWPC's consolidated table as of 2 September 2026, current rates run roughly P5,500 to P7,800 a month, with NCR at the top. 15 of the 17 regions have collapsed the old city-versus-municipality tiers into a single figure; only two still run two tiers.

Do not copy anyone's regional table, including this description of one. The reasons are concrete: five regional wage orders took effect during 2026 alone, the most recent in May 2026; and NWPC's own per-region pages and its national summary do not always read the same way, because merged table cells are easy to misparse. There is only one correct method: go to nwpc.dole.gov.ph, find the current kasambahay wage order for your region, note its order number and effective date, and re-check it each time you renew the contract. The minimum wage for ordinary employees is a separate system computed on a daily basis — see how Philippine minimum wage is set.

A budgeting note: the true cost is not the monthly wage. On top of the NCR figure of P7,800 you add the employer share of three contributions (worked example in the next section), 13th-month pay (about one month's wage), and board and lodging for a live-in arrangement. Rolled up, the annual cash cost lands near 14 months of wage plus the cost of food and a room.

Social Contributions: P5,000 Is the Dividing Line

Once you hire a kasambahay you have a legal duty to register and pay social contributions — one of the most commonly overlooked areas for first-time employers. The three are SSS (social insurance), PhilHealth (health insurance) and Pag-IBIG (housing and savings).

The statute puts the dividing line at P5,000. Section 30 of RA 10361 provides that a domestic worker who has rendered at least 1 month of service is covered by all three, that premium payments shall be shouldered by the employer, and that a worker receiving P5,000 and above per month shall pay the proportionate share. That threshold has not been adjusted since 2013 — and since current regional minimums now sit above P5,500, in practice almost every kasambahay falls on the cost-sharing side, with the employer deducting the worker's share and remitting it together with its own.

Where each of the three currently stands (rates change; verify against the agency's latest schedule before you remit):

• SSS. Per SSS Circular No. 2024-007, the schedule for household employers and kasambahay effective January 2025, the rate is 15%, split 10% employer and 5% employee, with a maximum monthly salary credit of P35,000, plus an Employees' Compensation premium paid solely by the employer. That table operationalizes the statute exactly: for every compensation bracket below P5,000 the employee column is blank and the employer pays the whole amount. Worked example at the NCR rate of P7,800 (monthly salary credit P8,000): employer about P800 plus P10 EC premium, so roughly P810, and the kasambahay about P400. On what happens if you fall behind, see catching up on SSS arrears.
• PhilHealth. The premium rate in force is 5%, on an income floor of P10,000 and a ceiling of P100,000, split equally between employer and employee. An honest caveat: the statutory schedule in Section 10 of RA 11223 (Universal Health Care Act) runs only to 2025, and PhilHealth's published contribution table likewise ends at a row labelled "2024 to 2025"; we found no 2026 circular changing the rate. So the accurate statement is "the rate remains 5%, though the published schedule stops at 2025" — check the current table on PhilHealth's site before remitting.
• Pag-IBIG. There is a kasambahay-specific three-tier table that differs from the general employee rule, and many guides wrongly copy the general one: monthly salary P1,500 and below — the worker pays nothing and the employer pays 3%; over P1,500 to P4,999 — the worker pays nothing and the employer pays 4%; P5,000 and up — 2% each. The maximum fund salary rose from P5,000 to P10,000 in February 2024, so each side caps at P200 a month, P400 combined. Worked example at P7,800: P156 from each side.

Operationally it is three steps: register yourself as a household employer and obtain an employer number; register the helper (if she has worked before she will already have numbers, which carry over); then remit monthly. DOLE and the three agencies also run a unified registration route for kasambahay that enrols across all three at once — forms and intake points vary locally. Registration steps and payment details are in the guide to SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG registration and payment. Get this in order from the first month rather than letting it slide: unpaid contributions do not go away, and the missing months surface later when the helper claims maternity, hospitalisation or retirement benefits — usually with penalties attached.

Where to Find One: Agencies, Referrals and Community

There are broadly three routes: licensed placement agencies (they match and pre-screen for a fee, but quality varies, so choose a reputable, properly registered one); referrals from friends, colleagues or neighbors (the most common and often most reliable, because someone can vouch for the person); and community networks (churches, expat or hometown groups, building management, a former employer's departing helper).

Whatever the route, do not skip background checks:

• NBI Clearance to check for a criminal record, especially for live-in staff.
• Basic health check, a safeguard for both sides in a shared home.
• Verify IDs and references with past employers where possible.
• Interview in person to align on expectations and fit.

Always agree a probation period so both sides can observe and adjust before committing long-term. Hiring means letting someone into your home — better to spend an extra two weeks verifying than to rush.

What the Contract Must Cover: The Statute Lists 11 Items

Section 11 requires a written contract executed before service begins, in a language or dialect both parties understand, with a copy each. DOLE supplies model contracts free of charge, so "we had no template" is not a reason. The statute enumerates 11 items that must be in it:

1. Duties and responsibilities — list exactly what the job covers (cleaning, cooking, laundry, marketing, pets) to avoid endless extra tasks; state live-in versus live-out and how duties are shared where there is more than one helper.
2. Period of employment.
3. Compensation — no lower than your region's current wage order, with payday and method (cash, at least monthly).
4. Authorized deductions — anything beyond deductions mandated by law needs the worker's written consent.
5. Hours of work and proportionate additional payment.
6. Rest days and allowable leaves — which day the 24-hour weekly rest falls on, and how the 5 days of leave after 1 year are scheduled.
7. Board, lodging and medical attention (live-in) — at least 3 adequate meals a day and safe sleeping arrangements, not chargeable against wages (on who pays for illness, see who pays a helper's medical costs).
8. Agreements on deployment expenses, if any.
9. Loan agreements — advances are permissible, debt bondage is not.
10. Termination of employment.
11. Any other lawful condition agreed by the parties.

One step most employers miss comes after signing: Section 17 requires the employer to register the worker in the Registry of Domestic Workers in the barangay where the employer's residence is located. It is both an obligation and a protection — it evidences that the arrangement was open and compliant all along. If helpful, the Yixing settle-in team can draft a bilingual, Kasambahay-compliant contract covering all 11 items, pay, contributions, leave and termination.

Employer Duties and Common Mistakes: 5 Days' Notice, 15 Days' Indemnity

Hiring is easy; hiring right is not. Check yourself against the mistakes first-time employers make most often:

• Paying the 2013 statutory figures. The P2,500 in the statute has been superseded by regional wage orders; NCR is now P7,800. Paying the old number is sustained underpayment, and any back-pay is computed at the current rate.
• No written contract, just a verbal deal — Section 11 requires a written contract executed before service begins.
• No rest day, assuming live-in means on call around the clock — at least 24 consecutive hours weekly and an aggregate 8 hours daily are legal rights. By written agreement rest days may be accumulated up to 5, but never cancelled.
• Skipping social contributions — coverage starts at 1 month of service, and below P5,000 a month the employer pays the entire premium. Missing it risks back-payments and penalties.
• Treating the annual leave as convertible or accruable — the 5 days under Section 29 are precisely non-cumulative, non-carried-over and non-convertible, the reverse of ordinary Service Incentive Leave. Writing it the other way invites an argument you did not need.
• Charging board and lodging against wages — meals and a room for a live-in helper are an affirmative employer obligation under Section 6, not part of the wage, not deductible, and not withdrawable as punishment.
• One person doing several jobs — piling childcare, driving and hosting onto a general helper exceeds the agreed role; renegotiate with a pay bump or hire separately (on a yaya's scope see hiring a yaya in the Philippines).
• Withholding wages, taking deposits, or confiscating documents — Section 25 bars deductions without written consent, Section 14 bars deposits for loss or damage, Section 15 bars debt bondage, and holding a helper's ID or travel papers is likewise unlawful.
• Firing on the spot — Section 32 requires 5 days' notice before the intended termination, by either side, where the duration is not fixed. The consequences are symmetrical: an employer who dismisses without just cause owes earned compensation plus an indemnity equivalent to 15 days' work; a worker who leaves without justifiable reason forfeits unpaid salary of up to 15 days' work. And if the arrangement ends within 6 months, the employer may recover part of the deployment expenses from the recruiter.

The exact rules for overtime, termination, 13th-month pay and leave follow current DOLE regulations and your region's wage order in force. Beyond compliance, hiring is a long-term relationship: agreeing duties and house rules clearly, respecting the helper's rest day and privacy, paying on time and treating people humanely tends to earn more attentive, more stable care — the spirit behind the Kasambahay Law.

Let Yixing Handle the Hiring: From Recruiting to Compliance

For families newly settled in Manila, the hard part of hiring a household helper is rarely the cost — it is "where do I find someone, and how do I hire compliantly?" Language barriers, unfamiliar channels, and uncertainty about the Kasambahay Law and social contributions make it easy to hire the wrong person or cross a compliance line unknowingly.

Yixing offers hands-on help with recruiting household staff and compliant employment: from mapping the role and budget to your family's needs, connecting you with reliable channels and helping screen, interview and run background checks, to drafting a contract that covers all 11 items required by Section 11 and handling barangay registration plus SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG enrolment. Let the Yixing settle-in team start with a needs review, or visit yixingtravel.com to learn more.

This article is general information, not legal advice. The days, ages and ratios cited with section numbers come from RA 10361 itself; the wage figures come from current NWPC wage orders, which are revised periodically — before you pay, check your region's current rate at nwpc.dole.gov.ph, and take contribution rates from the latest SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG announcements. Contract terms, rest days and termination all rest on the Kasambahay Law (RA 10361), current DOLE regulations and case-specific professional advice.