Former domestic worker Marinete Silva, 43 years old, currently works as a stock boy at a store in Brasília. She gave up her old activity two years ago because she felt devalued and exploited. “I was hired to take care of an elderly woman, but I had to spend the whole week at the family’s house, also cleaning and eating all day.” 
She did not receive nighttime pay or any other entitlement, even though she worked long hours. “I got bored with this profession and ended up leaving.” It took her 2 hours to get to work and regrets that she didn’t know all her rights.
Primer
Faced with the precariousness and violations of this type of profession, the Ministry of Labor and Employment created the National Coordination for the Inspection of Domestic Work and Care (Conadom) to monitor possible violations of rights. In addition to inspection, the department understands that it is necessary to act to guarantee accurate information to people who work in this area.
A booklet explains the rights of a category in which more than 90% of people are women.
Raising awareness, for example, to report work in conditions similar to slavery in the domestic sphere, is a point in the booklet. This type of situation occurs when the employer makes the professional live in the house where she works and work long hours on the same day, without respect for rest periods. In April, the ministry pointed out that the inspection reached 43 cases of work similar to slavery and that domestic activity had the highest number of cases.
One of the information contained in the ministry’s booklet is that paid domestic work is characterized as professional activity within the person’s or family’s residential environment.
Domestic service involves several activities, such as those performed by housekeepers, cleaners, cooks, drivers, gardeners, nannies, caregivers for the elderly and people with disabilities. The person who works in this area provides services continuously for more than two days a week.
Rights
Legislation approved in 2015 guarantees a series of rights to people who work in the domestic environment.
Discover the main guarantees
1 – Domestic workers have the right to register their employment contract on eSocial from the first day of service provision, including the trial period;
2 – the salary cannot be lower than the national minimum and paid by the 7th of each month;
3 – normal working hours of 8 hours a day and up to 44 hours a week;
4 – there must be control of the working day, with recording of working hours by any manual, mechanical or electronic means;
5 – paid weekly rest is guaranteed, preferably on Sundays. In addition, there must be a meal and rest break of at least 1 hour and a maximum of 2 hours;
6 – workers must have vacations, plus 1/3 of their normal salary, which can be divided into up to 2 periods;
7 – remuneration for night work must be increased by at least 20% over the daytime hourly rate;
8 – the interval between two working days must be at least 11 hours;
9- like other formal workers, professionals must have a 13th salary, transportation voucher, monthly deposit of FGTS and compensatory compensation, prior notice for dismissals without just cause, payment of severance pay within ten days after termination, stability for pregnant women from confirmation of pregnancy until five months after birth.
Later this year, the government will create a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of ordinary supervision of domestic work and care as a measure to prevent work similar to slavery in the domestic sphere.
