Indonesia passes domestic workers protection law after 22 years

Overview

Updated May 31

For 22 years, Indonesia's roughly 4.2 million domestic workers (nearly 90% of them women) have cleaned, cooked, and raised other people's children with no legal status as employees. On April 21, 2026, that changed. On Kartini Day—a holiday honoring women's rights—the House of Representatives passed the Domestic Workers Protection Law (UU PPRT), a bill first introduced in 2004 that stalled for five parliamentary terms.

The law recognizes domestic workers as legitimate employees, guarantees rest days, health insurance, and pensions, bans placement agencies from skimming wages, and sets a minimum working age of 18. Regulators have one year to write implementing rules. The real test is whether protections reach kitchens and back rooms or remain promises on paper.

Why it matters

4.2 million workers—most of them women—just moved from invisible informal labor into a legal framework that recognizes them as employees with rights.

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Key Indicators

22 years

From introduction to passage

The PPRT bill was first submitted to parliament in 2004 and lapsed across five legislative terms before passage.

4.2M

Domestic workers covered

Ministry of Manpower estimate of household workers now granted legal employee status.

~90%

Share who are women

The sector is overwhelmingly female, making the law a major women's rights milestone.

New minimum working age

Aims to end the practice of employing children as young as 11 or 12 in private homes.

12 months

To draft implementing rules

Government deadline to issue the regulations that make the law operational.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

People Involved

Puan Maharani

Speaker, Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR)

Gaveled the law through on Kartini Day

Prabowo Subianto

President of Indonesia

Backed the law; government now drafts implementing rules

Supratman Andi Agtas

Minister of Law

Delivered government's position at plenary

Lita Anggraini

National Coordinator, JALA PRT

Two-decade advocacy campaign culminated in passage

Organizations Involved

JALA PRT

Labor advocacy coalition

Primary civil society force behind the law

Indonesia's National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy, the coalition that drafted and campaigned for the PPRT bill for more than two decades.

House of Representatives (Libya)

National legislature

Enacted the PPRT law

Indonesia's 580-seat lower house, which passed the PPRT bill during its 17th plenary session of the 2025–2026 fourth sitting period.

Timeline

July 2004 April 2026

12 events Latest: April 22nd, 2026 · 5 months ago Showing 8 of 12

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April 2026
Government begins drafting implementing rules
Latest Regulatory

Ministry of Law and Ministry of Manpower open one-year process to define enforcement, inspection, and registration mechanics.
April 22nd, 2026
DPR passes Domestic Workers Protection Law on Kartini Day
Legislative

17th plenary session enacts UU PPRT, granting legal employee status to 4.2 million domestic workers. One-year window opens for implementing regulations.
April 21st, 2026
February 2026
Civil groups renew calls ahead of expected vote
Protest

JALA PRT and allied groups press for passage after repeated delays push past the three-month pledge.
February 15th, 2026
May 2025
Prabowo pledges PPRT passage within three months
Political

On International Labour Day, president and DPR leadership commit publicly to enacting the law.
May 1st, 2025
October 2024
Prabowo Subianto sworn in as president
Political

New administration signals support for previously stalled labor legislation.
October 20th, 2024
August 2023
Six-city hunger strike draws international attention
Protest

Around 360 domestic workers in Jakarta, Medan, Tangerang, Semarang, Yogyakarta, and Makassar take turns fasting from sunrise to sunset.
August 14th, 2023
March 2023
DPR adopts PPRT as its own initiative bill
Legislative

Parliament takes procedural step to own the bill, but floor action stalls again.
March 21st, 2023
December 2014
Bill lapses as DPR term ends
Legislative

Parliament's 2009-2014 term ends without action; bill must be reintroduced.
December 31st, 2014
November 2014
First hunger strike in Yogyakarta
Protest

Four domestic workers and JALA PRT coordinator Lita Anggraini begin hunger strike to pressure parliament.
November 25th, 2014
June 2011
ILO adopts Convention 189 on domestic workers
International

Global standards recognizing domestic work as work are adopted. Indonesia signs onto drafting but does not ratify.
June 16th, 2011
February 2009
HRW report on child domestic workers
Report

"Workers in the Shadows" documents an estimated 640,000 girls, some as young as 11, working up to 18-hour days in Indonesian homes.
February 11th, 2009
July 2004
Human Rights Watch documents abuse of domestic workers
Report

HRW's "Help Wanted" report details physical, sexual, and financial abuse of Indonesian domestic workers and calls for legal protections. Advocacy groups draft the first PPRT bill the same year.
July 21st, 2004

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Scenarios

Implementation rules issued on schedule, sector formalizes

Possible

Discussed by: Ministry of Manpower; ILO Indonesia office

Regulators issue implementing rules within the 12-month deadline, placement agencies register under the new framework, and employers begin enrolling workers in health insurance and pensions. Formalization is concentrated in Jakarta and major cities first, with slower uptake in rural areas. The law becomes a template that neighboring ASEAN economies study.

Enforcement stalls at the front door as private homes resist inspection

Likely

Discussed by: Human Rights Watch; JALA PRT

Most domestic work happens behind closed doors in private homes, where labor inspectors have no clear authority to enter. Without a registration mandate with teeth or an accessible complaint mechanism, enforcement relies on workers themselves filing claims against employers they live with. Advocates warn that without funded inspectorates and a hotline, the law risks becoming a paper right—closer to the Philippines' Kasambahay experience than to Hong Kong's standard contract regime.

Indonesia ratifies ILO Convention 189

Possible

Discussed by: International Labour Organization; labor academics

Domestic passage removes the main political obstacle to ratifying the 2011 ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Ratification would lock in the new standards against future rollback and strengthen Indonesia's position in bilateral talks over its migrant domestic workers abroad—a significant export to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Gulf.

Placement agencies fight back on wage-deduction ban

Likely

Discussed by: Indonesian Business Post; labor economists

The law's ban on placement agencies deducting wages threatens a core revenue model for the industry, which often charges workers months of pay as recruitment fees. Expect lobbying to water down the implementing regulations, legal challenges to specific provisions, and a shift to informal charging structures that skirt the new rules.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1973 onward

Hong Kong's Foreign Domestic Helper contract regime (1973–present)

Hong Kong established a Standard Employment Contract in 1973 for foreign domestic helpers—mostly Filipinas and Indonesians—setting minimum wages, rest days, and contract terms. Roughly 160,000 Indonesians work under this system today. A 2021 court case secured equal minimum-wage rights but the "two-week rule" and live-in requirement remain.

Then

Provided baseline protection and formal contracts from the start.

Now

Live-in requirements and employer-tied visas create structural dependencies that advocates say enable abuse despite contract protections.

Why this matters now

Hong Kong shows that formal contracts alone do not prevent abuse when workers lack exit options. Indonesia's new domestic framework will face similar questions about complaint mechanisms and whether workers can leave abusive employers without losing legal status.

January 2013

Philippines Kasambahay Law (2013)

President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10361, granting the Philippines' roughly 1.9 million domestic workers minimum wage, social security, health insurance, and a mandatory written contract. It was the first Southeast Asian law of its kind and came two years after the country ratified ILO Convention 189.

Then

Registration and compliance rose in Metro Manila but lagged in rural areas. Minimum wages below the national floor drew criticism from labor groups.

Now

A decade later, enforcement remains uneven—most Filipino domestic workers still lack written contracts and social security coverage, illustrating the gap between passage and delivery.

Why this matters now

The Kasambahay Law is the closest regional analogue to Indonesia's PPRT and shows that passage is the beginning, not the end. Indonesia's implementing-rules year will determine whether it repeats the Philippine pattern.

September 2013

US Fair Labor Standards Act domestic worker amendments (2013)

The Obama administration's Department of Labor extended federal minimum wage and overtime protections to roughly 2 million US home-care workers, reversing a 1974 "companionship" exemption that had excluded them. The original 1938 FLSA had excluded domestic and agricultural workers outright—a carveout widely understood as a concession to Southern legislators.

Then

Home-care agencies restructured schedules to avoid overtime; some workers saw hours cut.

Now

The rule survived industry legal challenges and cemented domestic work as covered employment. Live-in workers, however, remained partially exempt from overtime rules.

Why this matters now

Domestic workers have been the last category of labor to gain legal protection in almost every industrialized economy. Indonesia's 22-year delay fits a global pattern where the political weakness of a female, often invisible workforce slows reform.