Human Rights for Precarious Workers: The Legislative Precariousness of Domestic Labor

In this article, the author describes how domestic workers in the United Kingdom are especially precarious because they are both socially and economically subjugated, and are exempted from wage and hour protections, minimum wage law, and many health and safety standards. The author links this exclusion to the systemic mistreatment of UK domestic workers.  For example, she cites a study that found that the majority of such workers have had their passports withheld by their employers, do not earn minimum wage or overtime, have been injured or abused on the job, and do not receive adequate living quarters or meals. Further, she argues it is nearly impossible for domestic workers in most countries to join or form labor unions. Moreover, immigration law in the UK ties domestic workers' visa status to their employer, meaning that domestic workers who resign or are terminated become undocumented and may face deportation.

Because labor law largely excludes domestic workers, the author examines the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Social Charter (ESC) to determine whether domestic workers fall under either framework. She determines that the ESC's coverage is too narrow, but contends that domestic workers may find redress under a 2010 ECHR case, Rantsev v. Cyprus & Russia.

There the European Court of Human Rights found visa programs that tie legal status to a specific employer to be problematic. Although Rantsev  was a sex trafficking case, the author argues it should be extended to domestic workers because the same moral imperatives that justify human rights-based intervention justify labor regulation. Among these justifications are liberty, dignity, public morality, and distributive justice.