Most disputes with domestic help in Bangalore come from things that were never said out loud: whether Sunday is off, what happens to pay when she takes a week for a wedding, how much notice either side owes the other. A one-page written agreement settles those before they become arguments. It does not need to be a legal contract or a stamped document. It needs to be specific, signed by both of you, and kept where you can both find it.
This page gives you a fill-in-the-blanks agreement, explains each line so you can decide what to write, and covers the situation the agreement is really for: the morning she does not turn up.
What to write down
Duties. List the tasks, and list the tasks that are excluded. Write "sweeping and mopping all rooms daily, bathrooms twice a week, utensils after each meal" rather than "cleaning". The maid duties checklist has the full breakdown by category. The excluded list matters as much as the included one, because most quiet resentments start with a task that crept in.
Hours. Start time, finish time and, for a live-in, the rest hours in the middle of the day and the time after which she is off duty. For a part-time maid, write the slot and roughly how long the work should take.
Salary and the pay date. The monthly figure, the date it is paid on, and how: cash, UPI or bank transfer. Pick a date and hold to it. Most helpers run month to month, and a late salary costs you more goodwill than any bonus buys back. Current Bangalore ranges by role are in the maid salary guide. Agree a number inside the range rather than below it if you want her to stay.
Weekly off. One fixed day a week is standard. Write which day. If your household occasionally needs her that day, write what happens: a swapped day that week, or a day's extra pay.
Paid leave. Two to three days a month, or a block of two to three weeks a year around a festival or a family event, is the working norm in Bangalore. Write the number and whether unused days carry forward. Sick days are usually treated separately, and generously for short illnesses.
Festival leave and bonus. Diwali, Pongal, Eid, Christmas or whichever festival matters to her. Write the days off and the bonus, which in Bangalore is usually around one month's salary once a year. Writing it down removes the annual awkwardness on both sides.
Notice period, both ways. Fifteen days to one month is common. The point is that it applies to you as well as to her: if you let her go without notice, you pay the notice period. If she leaves without notice, the agreement says what happens to the pending salary. Keep it fair or it will not be honoured.
Advances. The maximum advance, how it is recovered and over how many months. An advance given from memory and deducted from memory is the most common money dispute in domestic work. Write every advance and every deduction on the back of the agreement with a date and both sets of initials.
For a live-in, add the room, meals and what is provided (bedding, a fan, a place to keep her things, phone charging) so that the arrangement is on paper too. The live-in maid checklist lists what a home should provide.
The agreement
Copy this into a document or write it out by hand. Fill every blank. A blank left empty is a dispute waiting to happen.
| Item | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Employer name and address | ........ |
| Helper name, last four digits of Aadhaar, home address | ........ |
| Emergency contact for the helper | Name ........ Phone ........ |
| Start date | ........ |
| Arrangement | Part-time / Full-time / Live-in |
| Working days | ........ (weekly off on ........) |
| Working hours | From ........ to ........ ; rest hours ........ (live-in) |
| Duties included | 1. ........ 2. ........ 3. ........ 4. ........ 5. ........ |
| Duties not included | 1. ........ 2. ........ 3. ........ |
| Monthly salary | ₹ ........ paid on the ........ of each month by cash / UPI / bank transfer |
| Meals and room (live-in) | Meals: ........ Room: ........ Provided: ........ |
| Paid leave | ........ days a month or ........ days a year; carry forward: yes / no |
| Festival leave | ........ days at ........ (festival) |
| Annual bonus | ₹ ........ or ........ month's salary, paid at ........ |
| Notice period | ........ days, by either side |
| Advances | Maximum ₹ ........ recovered at ₹ ........ a month |
| Review | Salary and duties reviewed every ........ months; next review on ........ |
| Signatures | Employer ........ Helper ........ Witness ........ Date ........ |
Make two copies, one for each of you. If the helper cannot read, read it aloud in her language and have a witness she trusts sign as well. A photo of the signed page on both phones is enough for it to be useful.
Handling a no-show
The agreement earns its keep on the morning she does not come.
Wait until mid-morning and then call once. Most no-shows are a sick child, a landlord or a bus. If she answers and has a reason, ask when she will be back and note the day as leave, paid or unpaid according to the agreement. Do not deduct a day's pay in the same breath. Do that at month end, calmly, against the written leave count.
If she does not answer, message her and her emergency contact and wait until evening. Two days of silence is when you start to treat it as a possible exit. Three days without contact is when most homes begin looking for a replacement and stop holding the position, and the agreement should say so.
When she reappears after an unexplained absence, have the conversation once, with the agreement in front of you. Repeat absences are a pattern, and the notice period clause exists for that. A helper who leaves without serving notice forfeits the notice-period pay the agreement specifies, and nothing more. Withholding an entire month's earned salary is unfair, and it is also the fastest way to have your name passed around the local helpers' network as an employer to avoid.
For a live-in helper who has left without notice, take stock of the room and her things the same day, with a photo, and keep any belongings she has left until she or her family collects them.
Reviewing the agreement
Duties grow. A child is born, a parent moves in, the family gets a dog. Each of these changes the job, and the salary should move with it. Put a review date on the agreement, every six or twelve months, and use it. A helper who sees her pay revised without having to ask is a helper who stays, and a helper who stays two years is worth far more than the increment.
If you hire through EzyHelpers, we set the salary, duties, hours and weekly off in writing with both sides before the first day, which is what this template is for. Live-in placements come with a 7-day cooling-off period and a free replacement on the 3-month and 11-month plans, so the written terms and the placement support work together.
Hire a verified maid with written terms