Controversial ruling on domestic workers

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A Spanish court ruling issued in February 1999 has maintained that domestic work does not involve physical effort. It has reopened debate on the nature of domestic work and the employment status of domestic workers.

At the beginning of February 1999, a ruling issued by the Social Court of Seville found that a 61-year old domestic worker was not eligible to receive a disability pension. To justify her demand, the worker had presented a medical report confirming her inability to perform physical effort. However, the ruling maintained that domestic workers perform "numerous habitual tasks [that] do not require physical effort and those tasks that do require physical effort are of a moderate nature and are aided by mechanical devices whose use has been generalised in a developed society such as ours". Therefore, in the magistrate's opinion, the claim does not fall within the remit of the General Social Security Law.

The ruling has provoked a great deal of criticism. Voluntary organisations, political parties, trade unions and even the regional government of Andalucia have declared that it reveals ignorance and disdain towards certain tasks that are traditionally carried out by women.

For the trade unions, however, the problem goes further. The perceived undervaluing of domestic workers (empleadas de hogar) is found not only in rulings of this kind: the regulation of their employment status is in itself discriminatory. There is a special system for domestic employees, which provides those who do not work more than 72 hours a month do not enjoy the protection of the social security system. They do not receive sick pay until the 29th day of sickness and they have to pay their social security contributions themselves as of the month following the one in which they fall sick. Furthermore, they are not entitled to unemployment benefit, nor are they protected by the Law on Prevention of Labour Risks. The trade unions believe that, in order to put an end to the discrimination, domestic workers require their own collective agreement, and should be covered by the general social security system. In addition, they should be protected by the Workers' Statute and the Law on Prevention of Labour Risks.