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.1 The “framing standards” 
The ―framing standards‖ provide a structure that ensures the working time flexibility 
necessary for domestic work while constraining it in ways protective of the worker. The 
central elements of the framing standards, set out in Part B of the Model Law, are as 
follows: 

Working Time Agreement (WTA)
.
 
The need for participation, clarity and 
transparency in the design of working time arrangements for individual domestic 
workers and their employer is recognized through a requirement that individual 
workers and employers conclude a Working Time Agreement (WTA) at the outset 
of their relationship. The WTA sets out the central features of the domestic 
worker‘s hours, both in duration and arrangement. Designed to ensure that workers 
can easily enforce their legal rights,
 
the WTA also outlines certain aspects of the 
broader labour law regime, such as the collective bargaining regime as it relates to 
working time, and information that will aid the worker to enforce legal 
entitlements, such as access to the labour inspectorate or grievance resolution 
mechanisms. 

Normal hours
. A key element of ILO working time standards is the recognition 
that working time must be limited in some way. The standards since Convention 
No. 1 have recognized that the span of time over which a labour process has to be 
performed is not an acceptable measure of the span of time to be demanded of 
workers. Rather, decent work requires the acceptance of limits on the availability 
of the regulated worker‘s labour for sufficient periods to protect his or her health 
and well-being. Such limits are reflected in the Model Law. As a general rule, 
eight hours a day and 40 hours a week can be worked before overtime payments 
are due. The daily limit is in line with the early international standards (C1; C30) 
and reflected in the Uruguayan Act No. 18.065 on domestic work. The weekly 
limit is derived from the most recent international standards (C47; R116) and has 
been identified by the Committee of Experts as the contemporary standard for 
weekly hours (ILO, 2005).
 

Overtime hours
. The Model Law assumes that there should be as little recourse to 
overtime as possible in domestic work, given the health and work/life implications 
of regular work beyond normal hours. For work/life reasons in particular, the 

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Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 27 
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worker is entitled to notice that he or she will be required to work overtime and 
can refuse unless there is an urgent and essential need for his or her services. 
Overtime work is constrained by a daily rest period (see below) and the 48-hour 
maximum on weekly hours suggested by the CEACR as an appropriate upper limit 
on overtime (ILO, 2005). In line with the international standards, overtime work 
must be remunerated at a premium of at least 25 per cent of the domestic worker‘s 
normal wage (C1; C30; R116). 
