DOMESTIC WORKER
| BELGIUM |
| DIENSTBODE DOMESTIQUE DOMESTIC WORKER |
Within the meaning of the 1978 Contracts of Employment Act, a domestic worker is an employee who undertakes to perform, in return for pay and under the direction and control of an employer, predominantly household work of a manual nature providing for the housekeeping wants of the employer or the employer's family. It is therefore the actual nature of the work that distinguishes the domestic worker from the blue-collar worker: household work of a manual nature providing for the housekeeping wants of the employer or the employer's family. Gardeners, chauffeurs and the like are accordingly excluded from the scope of the Act. Nurses and governesses perform non-manual work and are therefore not domestic workers.
The work must involve the household of the employer or the employer's family: it is help provided for particular individuals. This means that kitchen staff and cleaners working for a hotel, a religious community or a company, etc. are likewise not domestic workers.
Please note: the European industrial relations glossaries were compiled between 1991 and 2003 and are not updated. For current material see the European industrial relations dictionary.