Barriers of social security schemes for domestic workers
Domestic work faces multiple barriers to access to legal and effective coverage of social security. Much of the barriers are related to the characteristics of the job, such as the fact that the tasks are performed in a private home or that the employer is a family without productive or business purposes. This section provides a summary of the main barriers identified from an institutional perspective. In the future it will be necessary based on information coming directly from workers and employers, through surveys or other instruments in order to have a deeper characterization of the barriers studies.
Legal exclusion. Legal exclusion is the most daunting barrier for upholding domestic workers’ right to social protection. When laws are discriminatory, a population group that due to its characteristics is already vulnerable becomes even more so. For example, in Thailand, the Social Security Law (1990) specifically states that domestic workers are not eligible for social security.
In addition to legal exclusion, other barriers limit domestic workers’ access to social security coverage. Some of the most significant constraints are listed below.
Voluntary coverage. Access to social security is a right that every worker should have, which in practice does not necessarily occur. Voluntary coverage is ineffective because it burdens domestic workers with the difficult task of convincing their employers to register them in a social security programme.
Coverage is limited to fulltime workers. This is a major hurdle given that many domestic workers are employed part-time, by the day or by the hour. In Turkey, only fulltime employees are eligible for social security through the Social Security Institute (SGK).
Restrictive definition of domestic work in legislation. In some cases, national legislation, whether at the level of the labour code or of social security laws, narrowly defines salaried domestic work in terms of the household tasks it entails. This hinders the inclusion of some occupational groups that perform domestic work, such as gardeners, security guards, private drivers and those who care for pets. The definition of domestic work categories established in Convention No. 189 serves as a policy guide for countries to adapt their legislation accordingly.
Limitation of protected contingencies. In some countries, the social security system offers differentiated coverage (contingencies or branches of social security covered) for difficult-to-cover groups such as domestic workers, which is usually less than that offered in the general scheme. Family and unemployment benefits are most often excluded. In some developing countries, coverage is limited to pensions (invalidity, old-age and survivors’ benefits). In others, the scheme offers lower benefit amounts, affecting mainly the short-term transfer of cash in the case of sickness and maternity benefits.
These practices occur most frequently in countries that have opted for special protection schemes for domestic workers, although they are also observed in some countries where the domestic work sector is included in the general scheme.
Exclusion resulting from the characteristics of domestic work. In some countries, social security schemes establish differentiated access conditions for domestic workers, which are usually associated with the nature of labour relations. While some of the conditions could be considered good practices, since they are designed to create incentives for registration and payment of contributions, others act as barriers to social protection access for this group of workers.
For example, in some schemes, workers must meet a minimum threshold of earnings to be able to access some social security benefits, such as in the United States or in the Philippines. In the latter country, workers must earn at least 1,000 pesos (US$ 23) monthly and must be less than 60 years old to exercise the right to coverage for sickness or maternity benefits. This requirement is not applicable in the case of employment injury coverage, however.
Some systems also require a minimum number of hours worked with a single employer to access social security. This is one of the main limitations for the extension of social protection to domestic workers in developed countries (ILO, 2012b). In countries like Italy, for example, domestic workers who work less than four hours a day for the same employer are not eligible for social security coverage; a similar rule is applied in the Netherlands, where domestic workers are excluded from social security when they work less than four days per week for the same employer.
Differentiated requirements for access to some contingencies also exist in developing countries, such as South Africa, where domestic workers must work at least 24 hours per month to receive sickness benefits, and in Panama, where they have a right to sickness benefits only if they work more than 24 hours per month.
These types of provisions act as exclusion factors for social security access. At the same time, however, they enable systems to establish a minimum financial base, thus countries should strive for an adequate balance in their definition.
Contribution rates equal to those of other occupational categories. The establishment of a contributory scheme equal to that for other employees is another impediment to inclusion of domestic workers in social security systems. According to the experiences analysed, this strategy is not very effective when dealing with difficult-tocover groups, such as domestic workers, which in addition to having a low contributory capacity are often paid in-kind.
In some countries, the structure of contributions includes payments that do not generate benefits for domestic workers, which increases costs and discourages registration (like may be the case of some contributions by employers earmarked to finance other social benefits and programmes).
Complexity of administrative procedures. Burdensome administrative procedures increase transaction costs for employers and domestic workers alike in terms of the time invested in complying mainly with procedures of registration and regular payment. Procedures that are burdensome, costly or difficult to understand (for example, complexity in the application of contribution rates) act as disincentives to registration. The situation tends to be less favourable when employers must deal with a fragmented administrative model, where they are required to transact with several institutions rather than a single, centralized one.
Inadequacy of administrative mechanisms for registration and receiving benefits. The specific characteristics of the domestic work sector in comparison with other economic activities require social security schemes to adapt administrative mechanisms to the needs of this sector.
The absence of mechanisms to register workers who work on an hourly basis, those who have more than one employer and those who work abroad, for example, exclude this population from access to social security benefits. This situation can be resolved through legal and administrative reforms, which incorporate the intensive use of technological resources combined with incentives for enrolment, including financial incentives.
Benefits under the responsibility of employers. In some social security systems, employers are directly responsible for covering costs for certain benefits, particularly sickness and maternity benefits.
Lack of information and organization. When individuals are unaware of their rights and responsibilities and of how to exercise them, it is more difficult for these workers to actively exercise them. Additionally, the lack of information amplifies the asymmetrical position and puts workers at an even greater disadvantage in negotiations with employers. This mainly affects groups of highly vulnerable workers, such as domestic workers. The situation is even worse for migrant domestic workers. The dissemination of information to the domestic work sector can be beneficial as it has proven effective in countries that have employed this strategy, such as Argentina and Uruguay. Entities involved in social security administration can also contribute to strengthening organizations of domestic workers as well as of employers of domestic workers. These organizations can be an effective channel for disseminating information and promoting rights.