How to Hire a Kasambahay Legally: The 12-Step 2026 Checklist

TL;DR: Kasambahay hiring is legal once you do six things. Sign the DOLE contract Form BK-1 before the first day of work. Pay at least your region's wage floor in cash, at least once a month. Register the hire at your barangay, enrol your kasambahay with SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG inside the first month, issue a payslip every payday, and give 24 straight hours of rest a week. In Metro Manila the floor has been ₱7,800 a month since 7 February 2026, and each act Republic Act 10361 declares unlawful carries a fine of ₱10,000 to ₱40,000.

Almost every Philippine household gets the wage right and the paperwork wrong. Families ask what to pay, agree a number over merienda, and start on Monday. Nobody signs anything. Nobody walks to the barangay hall. Two years later there is a disagreement about a loan or a resignation, and neither side has a single document.

The twelve steps below are the whole job, in the order a real household meets them. Each one is short on purpose. Where a step has its own arithmetic or its own form, it links to the guide that covers it properly. If you want the law itself rather than the sequence, read the Kasambahay Law explained first and come back here.

Step 1: Decide the role, then write the duty list

"General helper" is not a job description. Before you talk to anyone, write down the actual week: which rooms, which meals, laundry for how many people, whether anyone is watching a child or an elderly parent, and what is explicitly not included.

This matters later because Section 11 of Republic Act 10361 puts "duties and responsibilities" in the contract. A vague list becomes a vague contract, and a vague contract is where most household disputes start. Use the domestic helper job description guide to build it, and if the role is really childcare, say yaya and price it as one.

Step 2: Set the wage above the floor, then budget the on-top costs

Find your region's kasambahay wage order and treat that number as a floor, not a target. In the National Capital Region the RTWPB-NCR rate is ₱7,800 a month, set by Wage Order No. NCR-DW-06 and effective 7 February 2026. That is the highest floor in the country. The NWPC regional summary as of 9 July 2026 puts the lowest at ₱5,500 in BARMM. The NCR order allows no exemptions at all, and it covers live-in and live-out alike.

The floor is the legal minimum, not the going rate, and in Metro Manila the two are far apart. What matters more is the total: employer contributions, three meals a day, lodging if live-in, and 13th month pay. Check your own region in the 2026 minimum wage guide, then model the full monthly cost with the salary calculator.

Step 3: Find candidates without breaking Section 13

There are four honest routes. Direct hire through your own network. A referral from a relative or a neighbour. A private employment agency licensed by DOLE. Or a marketplace where you contact helpers yourself.

Whichever you use, one rule does not bend. Section 13 says no share in the recruitment or finder's fee may be charged against the domestic worker, whether the agency or a third party arranges it. If a "placement fee" is being deducted from the first month of wages, that arrangement is unlawful, and you are the one paying that wage.

A licensed private employment agency is defined in the law as an entity licensed to recruit and place domestic workers for local employment. Section 36 makes DOLE license and regulate them, and makes the agency jointly and severally liable with you for wages and benefits. That joint liability is the reason to insist on a real licence. Ask for the licence number and confirm it with the DOLE Regional Office covering the agency's address rather than trusting a laminated certificate on the wall.

If you would rather skip the middle layer, browse helper profiles and speak to candidates directly.

Step 4: Screen and interview without invading privacy

Section 12 lists what you may ask for before the contract: a medical or health certificate from a local government health officer, barangay and police clearance, NBI clearance, and an authenticated birth certificate or another proof of age. That list is a ceiling, not a shopping list. Ask for what the role genuinely needs.

Two things families get wrong here. First, the same section says the cost of those documents is borne by the prospective employer or agency. You pay for the NBI clearance. You do not advance it and deduct it later. Second, never hold originals. Photocopy, verify, hand the document back. Keeping someone's birth certificate or ID in your drawer is leverage, not diligence, and it is the first move in every debt bondage case Section 15 exists to stop.

Employing anyone below 15 is unlawful under Section 16. For a 15 to 17 year old, Form BK-1 itself prints the limits: no more than eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, and no work between 10pm and 6am.

Pay for the trial day. A candidate who cleans your house for eight hours is working, whatever you call it. Call two references and ask about the end of the last job, not the start. Our vetting guide covers what identity and reference checks can and cannot prove.

Step 5: Sign Form BK-1 before day one

Section 11 requires the contract to be executed before the service starts, in a language or dialect both of you understand. Not after the first payday. Before.

DOLE publishes the model contract free of charge, and the Kasambahay Form BK-1 is that form. It is written in Filipino, titled Kontrata sa Paglilingkod sa Tahanan, and it walks you through place of work, period, type of work, duties, hours, weekly rest day, the monthly cash wage, the overtime rate, payday, authorised deductions, benefits, loans, and deployment expenses. The LaborLaw.ph summary of the implementing rules notes it is prepared in three copies, one for you, one for the kasambahay, and one for the barangay.

If either of you would rather work from an English version first, our kasambahay contract template mirrors the same clauses.

Step 6: Register at the barangay

Section 17 is one sentence and it is the step nearly everyone skips: employers shall register all domestic workers under their employment in the Registry of Domestic Workers in the barangay where the employer's residence is located.

Go to your own barangay hall, not the kasambahay's home barangay. Bring the signed contract and the barangay's copy. It takes an afternoon. The registry is also how the barangay knows a kasambahay lives on that street, which matters on the day something goes wrong.

Step 7: Enrol with SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG in the first month

Section 30 starts coverage after one month of service, and SSS tells household employers to report a house helper within 30 days from the hiring date. Those two deadlines land in the same window, so do it once, early.

You do not file three times. The Kasambahay Unified Registration System is a 3-in-1: PPS-HEUR1 registers you as a household employer, PPS-KUR registers your kasambahay and returns the SS number, PhilHealth PIN and Pag-IBIG MID, and PPS-HEUR2 reports the employment itself. Any SSS, PhilHealth or Pag-IBIG branch accepts them.

Who pays depends on one number. Section 30 puts the whole premium on the employer, except that a kasambahay earning ₱5,000 a month or more pays a proportionate share. Since every 2026 regional floor sits above ₱5,000, sharing is now the normal case. The SSS contribution guide has the current table, and PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG are worked out separately.

Step 8: Set up payday properly

Section 25 says wages are paid on time, directly to the kasambahay, in cash, at least once a month. Not in groceries. Not in load. The section names promissory notes, vouchers, coupons, tokens, tickets and chits specifically, because employers used to try all of them.

Every payday, Section 26 requires a payslip showing the cash amount and every deduction, and you keep those copies for three years. That form is BK-2. Our payslip template guide has a fillable version.

Deductions are the part families get wrong. Other than what the law mandates, nothing comes out of the wage without written consent. Section 14 makes it unlawful to require a deposit against loss or damage to household tools, furniture or equipment. A broken plate is not a payroll matter.

Step 9: Put the rest day in writing

Section 21 gives at least 24 consecutive hours of rest a week, and the schedule has to be agreed in writing. If your kasambahay prefers a particular day on religious grounds, the law says respect it. You may agree to offset an absence against a rest day, waive one for an equivalent day's pay, or accumulate rest days up to five, but those are agreements, not defaults.

Section 20 adds an aggregate daily rest period of eight hours. For a live-in helper that is the sentence worth reading twice. Sleeping in your house is not the same as being off duty, and "she was here anyway" is not a rest day.

Step 10: Plan the year, not just the month

Two annual obligations. Section 25 confirms the kasambahay is entitled to 13th month pay, and Presidential Decree 851 sets the deadline at not later than 24 December every year. Work the amount out in November using the 13th month computation guide, not on the 23rd.

Section 29 gives five days of paid service incentive leave after one year of service. Unused days do not carry over and are not convertible to cash, A family that never releases those days has taken five days of paid leave away.

Step 11: Know how it ends before it ends

If the contract has no fixed term, Section 32 lets either side end it on five days notice. Inside a term, only the grounds in Sections 33 and 34 apply, and a dismissal outside them costs you the compensation already earned plus the equivalent of 15 days work as indemnity.

Two details worth knowing on the last day. Deployment expenses are recoverable only when the kasambahay leaves without justifiable reason inside the first six months, and only if the contract said so. And Section 35 gives you five days from a request to issue a certificate of employment, Form BK-3, stating the nature and duration of service and the work performance. Refusing one out of spite is its own violation. The separation and termination guide works through each exit.

Step 12: What skipping a step actually costs

Section 40 sets a fine of not less than ₱10,000 and not more than ₱40,000 for any violation of the acts the law declares unlawful, and it explicitly does not prevent the aggrieved party from filing a civil or criminal action.

Section 37 sends labor disputes to the DOLE Regional Office with jurisdiction over the workplace, which has to exhaust conciliation and mediation before deciding. That is a good outcome for a family with a signed BK-1, a barangay registration and three years of payslips. It is a bad one for a family with a text thread.

The forms, and where to get them

Section 11 requires DOLE to make the model contract available free of charge, and the BK forms come from the barangay or a Public Employment Service Office. DOLE also publishes the contract through the NWPC Batas Kasambahay page.

| Form | What it does | Where to get it | | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | BK-1 Kontrata sa Paglilingkod sa Tahanan | The DOLE standard employment contract, signed before work starts | Barangay hall, PESO, or the NWPC copy above | | BK-2 Pay slip | Cash paid and every deduction, issued each payday, kept three years | Barangay hall or PESO | | BK-3 Certificate of employment | Nature, duration and performance of service, on request when the job ends | Barangay hall or PESO | | PPS-HEUR1 Household Employer Unified Registration Form | Registers you as a household employer with all three agencies | Any SSS, PhilHealth or Pag-IBIG branch | | PPS-KUR Kasambahay Unified Registration Form | Returns the SS number, PhilHealth PIN and Pag-IBIG MID in one filing | Same | | PPS-HEUR2 Household Employment Unified Report Form | Reports the hire, and later the separation, to all three | Same |

The master checklist

Copy this. It is the whole legal side of kasambahay hiring on one screen.

• [ ] Written duty list, hours and rest day agreed before any offer
• [ ] Wage set at or above the current regional floor, in writing
• [ ] Full monthly cost modelled, not just the headline wage
• [ ] No finder's or placement fee charged to the worker, by anyone
• [ ] PEA licence verified with the DOLE Regional Office, if using one
• [ ] Only Section 12 documents requested, paid for by you, originals returned
• [ ] Trial day paid, references called
• [ ] Form BK-1 signed before day one, three copies, language both understand
• [ ] Registered in the barangay Registry of Domestic Workers
• [ ] PPS-HEUR1, PPS-KUR and PPS-HEUR2 filed inside 30 days
• [ ] Payday set, wage paid in cash at least monthly
• [ ] BK-2 payslip issued every payday and filed for three years
• [ ] Rest day scheduled in writing, eight hours daily rest respected
• [ ] 13th month pay reserved monthly, released by 24 December
• [ ] Five days paid leave tracked from the first anniversary

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I hire a kasambahay legally in the Philippines?

Write the duty list, set the wage at or above your regional floor, then sign the DOLE contract Form BK-1 before the first day of work. Within the first month, register the hire in your barangay Registry of Domestic Workers and enrol your kasambahay with SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG using the unified forms. After that the recurring duties are a cash wage at least once a month, a payslip every payday, and 24 consecutive hours of rest each week.

Do I need a written contract to hire a kasambahay?

Yes. Section 11 of Republic Act 10361 requires the contract to be executed before the service starts, in a language or dialect both of you understand. DOLE publishes the model contract as Form BK-1 and it is free from the barangay or the Public Employment Service Office. It has to cover duties, period, pay, authorised deductions, hours, rest days, board and lodging, loans, deployment expenses, and how the job ends.

Where do I register my kasambahay?

In the barangay where you live. Section 17 makes the employer register every domestic worker in that barangay's Registry of Domestic Workers. That is separate from SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG enrolment, which you do at any of the three agencies using one unified form. Doing one does not do the other.

How much does it cost to hire a kasambahay legally in 2026?

In Metro Manila the floor is ₱7,800 a month from 7 February 2026 under Wage Order NCR-DW-06, and every other region sets its own lower rate. On top of the wage, budget the employer share of SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG, three meals a day, lodging if the arrangement is live-in, the 13th month pay due by 24 December, and any pre-employment documents you ask for. Those documents are your cost by law, never a deduction.

What happens if I skip the contract or the registration?

Each act declared unlawful under Republic Act 10361 carries a fine of ₱10,000 to ₱40,000, and that does not stop an aggrieved worker from filing a separate civil or criminal case. Disputes go to the DOLE Regional Office covering your address, which has to exhaust conciliation and mediation first. The practical risk is worse than the fine: with no contract and no payslip, you have no record to argue from.

Start the search with the paperwork already decided

The families who find this easy are the ones who settled steps 1, 2 and 5 before meeting anybody. They know the duties, they know the number, and they bring a printed BK-1 to the interview. That single habit removes most of what goes wrong later, and candidates read it as a signal that you are serious.

The NCR wage board estimated 223,610 domestic workers covered by the 2026 increase in Metro Manila alone, 62 percent of them live-in. Being the household that does this properly is not expensive. It is an afternoon at the barangay hall and a form you can download for free.

When your duty list and budget are ready, find helpers on helpers.ph or create a family account and interview against the terms you have already written down. First time doing this? Hiring your first yaya walks through the same sequence with a childcare role in mind.