‎Brazil News

 

Federal Government launches Campaign for Decent Domestic Work

The date chosen is a tribute to National Maid Day - Photo: eSocial

 

With informative and inspection actions to reinforce the guarantee of compliance with the rights of domestic workers, the Campaign for Decent Domestic Work was launched this Wednesday (27/04). The date chosen is a tribute to National Maid Day. The initiative is from the Undersecretary of Labor Inspection (SIT), of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare.

 

Domestic work is performed at the employer's home by professionals such as nannies, maids, cleaning women, caretakers, drivers, cooks, caregivers of the elderly and people with disabilities, among others.

 

“We want to enforce the rights that have already been recognized and promote safe, healthy, decent and dignified work, free from any discrimination, abuse, harassment and violence”, said the National Coordinator of the Project to Combat Discrimination and Promotion of Equal Opportunities. at Work, Marina Sampaio.

 

The coordinator stated that, despite advances in protecting the rights of domestic workers, there is still a long way to go. “We still have a long way to go in terms of the realization of these rights, we still have a lot of discrimination, abuse, child labor and exploitation of labor in a condition of slavery. We need to overcome this reality and we have been working towards it,” she said.

 

The campaign will disseminate information and raise awareness of workers, employers, public agents and society in general about the rights of these workers, the legislation applicable to domestic work and warn about situations that constitute discrimination, harassment and violence at work. It also warns about the harmful effects of child labor and about the elements that make up domestic slave labor.

 

To this end, throughout the year, informative materials will be released, a course for domestic employers and conversation circles will be held to raise awareness of the issue. Another axis of the campaign is inspection, with operations to issue notifications to employers if workers are identified in conditions that do not comply with the law.

 

Promotion of equal opportunities

During the launch of the campaign, which takes place on the National Day of the Maid, data on this type of work were presented. The labor tax auditor, Dercylete Lisboa, detailed data that, in 2018, 80% of women employed in domestic work declared that they were involved in general services, 10% in child care, 9% in personal care and 2% worked as cooks.

 

“This means that practically 100% of women were concentrated in internal services in the domestic environment, that is, in a private sphere that increases their vulnerability to harassment and violence in the exercise of their activity”, said Dercylete Lisboa.

 

Another data presented was that in 2020, paid domestic service employed 4.9 million people, of which 91.8% were women and 66.6% of them were black.

 

Legal guarantees

Brazil provides constitutional rights to domestic work and has its own legislation on this type of work, which is Complementary Law 150, of 2015. It is also a signatory to Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which deals with domestic work.

 

By law, the minimum age for domestic work is 18 years, below this age group is considered one of the worst forms of child labor. The domestic employee is entitled to register the employment contract in e-social from the first day of the service, including the probation period, provided that the work is performed at least three times a week.

 

The salary cannot be less than the national minimum and the expected working day is up to 44 hours per week. Paid weekly rest, holidays on holidays, breaks for meals and rest, vacations, 13th salary, transportation vouchers, monthly deposit from the Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS), maternity leave, overtime and prior notice in case of dismissal without just cause, among others.

 

To denounce non-compliance with labor rights and other irregularities, citizens can call Dial 100 free of charge, a channel for complaints about human rights violations, or access the website.

 

Complaints of slave labor can be made remotely and confidentially through the Ipê System.