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A domestic worker is a person who works within an employer's household. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service". Domestic helpers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to housekeeping, including cleaning and household maintenance. Other responsibilities may include cooking, laundry and ironing, shopping for food and other household errands. Such work has always needed to be done but before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of labour saving devices, it was physically much harder.
Some domestic helpers live within their employer's household. In some cases, the contribution and skill of servants whose work encompassed complex management tasks in large households have been highly valued. However, for the most part, domestic work, while necessary, is demanding and undervalued. Although legislation protecting domestic workers is in place in many countries, it is often not extensively enforced. In many jurisdictions, domestic work is poorly regulated and domestic workers are subject to serious abuses, including slavery.Servant is an older English word for "domestic worker", though not all servants worked inside the home. Domestic service, or the employment of people for wages in their employer's residence, was sometimes simply called "service" and has often been part of a hierarchical system. In Britain a highly developed system of domestic service peaked towards the close of the Victorian era, perhaps reaching its most complicated and rigidly structured state during the Edwardian period (a period known in the United States as the Gilded Age and in France as the Belle Époque), which reflected the limited social mobility before World War I.

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  1. Relical86

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    I had had a disagreement with a neighbouring business, and whilst working the owner came and his worker walked into my shop armed with a taser and metal bar. First they tasted me in the face, before striking my head, neck, spine, and knee with the metal bar In the process I was left with severe...
  2. O

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  3. M

    WA Social worker letter of support

    Hi, I am currently in a custody dispute in Sweden. I have recently relocated from Perth to Sweden. In Perth I went to couples counselling (we were referred by our GP after a joint doctors appointment) together with my, at the time partner. I only went one time as, I believed my ex partner was...
  4. JohnnoP

    Significant cafe chain franchise not providing pay slips for casual worker

    Writing on behalf of my daughter who has just turned 17. She took a casual job with a significant cafe chain franchise last year at the age of 16. She has been working there for somewhat under a year on a weekend basis and has been a keen and motivated worker and getting regular shifts. However...
  5. J

    VIC my son has worked in the same place for approx. 16 years. he is still classified as an casual worker no overtime rates no meal allowance in fact no

    penalties apply .he has to work overtime and now has come to a call in on a need basis and is told to go home when their is no work and after that than be called back to work not one penalty .no travel allowance .he is working for an essential service and I find these conditions hard to believe .
  6. A

    NSW Child support exemption

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