Migration Jurisprudence from the South › South Africa
Mahlangu v. Minister of Labour
Constitutional Court of South Africa · South Africa · 2020-11-19 · National court
Citation: [2020] ZACC 24
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided for the migrant side
Question
May domestic workers be excluded from compensation for injury and death at work?
What the court decided
No. Excluding domestic workers from the compensation law is unfair discrimination on grounds of race, sex and gender; the ruling applies back to 1994.
In plain language
A domestic worker drowned in her employer’s pool and her family got nothing because the law left out domestic workers. The Constitutional Court said that was discrimination. The ruling covers many migrant domestic workers too.
Dalam bahasa sederhana
Seorang pekerja rumah tangga tenggelam di kolam renang majikan dan keluarganya tidak mendapat apa-apa karena UU tidak mencakup pekerja rumah tangga. MK menyatakan itu diskriminasi. Putusan ini juga melindungi banyak pekerja rumah tangga migran.
Pertanyaan: Bolehkah pekerja rumah tangga dikecualikan dari kompensasi kecelakaan dan kematian kerja?
What happened afterwards
- 2020-11-19: Exclusion declared invalid, back to 1994.
- 2022: Amendment Act extends cover to domestic workers. [Check.]
Sources
Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).
Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/za-mahlangu-2020/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.