Most of the urban female workforce operate in the informal sector, with 90% of the participants in the domestic worker realm being women. Kolkata is marked by the relatively lower salaries of domestic workers compared to other metropolitan areas of the country, implying that such low labour cost is partly rendered possible due to lapsing labour standards in the city for this demographic. Domestic workers in Kolkata are neither entitled to adequately decent work conditions, nor are they beneficiaries of specialised social security schemes. Despite the government notification of 2019 reiterating some workable avenue for domestic workers to be recognised as unorganised sector workers vis-à-vis registration on official administrative platforms in order to avail social security, minimum wages and legal protection, the ground reality in the city is drastically different; with operational blockages in the accessibility of legal institutions and even earning a minimum wage, the latter being significantly lower than the West Bengal government recommended wage rate. This paper seeks to analyse in depth the empirical shortcomings in the labour standards as well as the disconnect between legislation and the status quo prevailing in West Bengal with respect to the unjust exclusion faced by the predominantly women domestic workers of Kolkata from basic amenities and secure working environments. The paper will also seek to provide policy recommendations based on community mobilisation of domestic worker women, cross-sectoral linkages with local institutions and strategies to improve employer-worker relations.