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

By Virginia Mantouvalou on October 01, 2012

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.

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