More than 370,000 domestic workers in Spain are to benefit from a new law bringing their labour and social security rights into line with those of other employed workers.
The regulation will enter into force on 1 October 2022 and will have a big impact on women, given that they make up 95 per cent of the sector, according to the Spanish Minister of Labour and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz.
Trade union organizations and domestic workers’ groups have been demanding the adoption of the resolution for decades, and have drawn it up with Spain’s Council of Ministers.
The decree anticipates Spain’s ratification of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Among the main modifications the decree introduces are the recognition of the right to unemployment benefits and protection in cases of employer insolvency or bankruptcy, using the Wage Guarantee Fund (FOGASA).
It also guarantees domestic workers the right to health and safety protection equivalent to that of any other employed person.
The new law also abolishes the ability to dismiss these workers without just cause and puts in place a commitment to studying gender-based occupational illnesses, thus applying some of the provisions of the ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) to this group. (Convention No. 190 was ratified by Spain in May this year).
A final aim is to compensate families for the increase in their contributions that will result from providing these benefits to domestic workers. To do this, employers will be given an 80 per cent rebate on their contributions to unemployment benefits and FOGASA.
The changes will be financed by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) and new regulations to adapt this rebate to family characteristics and family income will be made over a period of six months.