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| Generation of domestic maids had few rights |
An
estimated 7m house maids and cooks – nearly all of them women – will be
entitled to overtime after working for a maximum of eight hours a day and 44
hours a week, among other rights.
The
constitutional amendment is set to be enacted next week.
The reform
could increase the cost of having a domestic worker by nearly 20%.
Many
middle-class Brazilian families have been used to having a maid to cook, clean
and wash for them.
In recent
years, their rights have been gradually revised to include paid holidays, sick
leave and maternity leave.
'End of
slaveship'
The new
rights have been called historic and widely welcomed in Brazil.
"It's
the second abolition of slavery. We have house maids who work 18 hours a
day," the head of the Sao Paulo's Domestic Workers and House Maid's union,
Eliana Menezes, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
"They
are subjected to their employers' rules in their homes."
The equal
rights trend has led to rising costs that are making employing a servant an
unaffordable luxury for some.
The new law
is set to make them even more expensive.
On social
media, many Brazilians reacted to the news saying that the country's middle
classes would have to learn how to live without house maids, as has already
happened in many developed countries.
Others
speculated that the enhanced legal rights would lead to a rise in unemployment.
The new
bill ensures that, like other employees, domestic workers will build up a fund
of money paid by their employers, equivalent to 8% of monthly pay, to be made
available upon compulsory redundancy, death and other contingencies.
Estimates
say the cost of having a domestic worker could rise by between 18% and 40%,
depending on their working arrangements.
The
amendment was passed unanimously in two votes of the Senate, after being
approved by the lower house as well.
The law
comes into force on 2 April.
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