A new direction in the labor relations of domestic service workers

Abstract

Domestic work is one of the most important sources of employment because of the number of domestic workers there are, as well as for its contribution to the general functioning of the economy and social life. However, it has been one of the most precarious, worst paid, and unprotected forms of work throughout history due to the discredit that surrounds the content of the activity, carried out mainly by women in the employer’s home; which makes it difficult to organize and control working conditions. The recent RD-law 16/2022 for the improvement of working conditions and Social Security of domestic workers, aims to end this historical disadvantage, removing the precepts of labor regulations that create treatment inequalities without objective justification, such as: unemployment protection, exclusion from the Occupational Risk Prevention Law, protection by the Wage Guarantee Fund and termination of the contract without cause, among others, to adapt them to the requirements of European regulations and ILO Convention 189 recently ratified by Spain. All of them are issues that are the object of analysis in this study together with the actions that need to be taken in the future.