Peru - Repository of Actions on Paid Domestic Work

Yes.  

Law No. 31047, Domestic Workers Law of 2020. Consult here. It is specified that this is the current law for domestic workers. The purpose of this is to regulate the employment relationship of people who perform domestic work and are called domestic workers. Regarding general aspects, the law regulates domestic work provided full-time and by the hour, with or without residence in the workplace. For any of these modalities, individually considered or combined with each other, different duties and obligations will be generated.  

Likewise, after a long process of social dialogue with domestic workers, as well as with the support of international organizations, such as the ILO and EuroSocial+, the Regulation of Law No. 31047, Law on domestic workers, was approved by the Supreme Decree No. 009-2021-TR. Consult here.    

Workers: 

Virtual training and discussions on the Domestic Workers Law have been carried out.  

There are guidance and training instruments for domestic workers, such as: 

This practical guide seeks to response to the need for information that both employers and domestic workers require in order to promote compliance with current regulations on the matter. It contains information about the concepts, rights, and services of the MTPE.  

Through General Directorial Resolution No. 0002-2022-MTPE/2/15, the Guide for the Prevention and Punishment of Occupational Sexual Harassment towards Domestic Workers is published, a document that will be a preventive instrument against acts of workplace sexual harassment towards domestic workers, which is aimed at domestic workers, but also at employers and organizations that operate in this field. Likewise, it should be noted that the guide has had the contributions of organization of domestic workers.  

The guide becomes a new instrument to move towards the prevention, punishment, and eradication of violence against domestic workers. Most of the people who do domestic work are women, and the very nature of this work, as it is work that is carried out within a home, especially in the type of work with residence in the home, often creates conditions that put the worker in a situation of greater risk of suffering gender-based violence and harassment.  

Faced with this situation, the Guide constitutes a practical and easy-to-understand tool to identify acts of sexual harassment in its various manifestations, as well as to learn about the prevention tools and services provided by the State in this regard. In accordance with the above, the Guide has been structured as follows: 

1.FIRST SECTION: Indicates who the Guide is addressed to, and presents general aspects of workplace sexual harassment, such as the regulatory framework, definitions, subjects involved, manifestations, and ways to detect acts of workplace sexual harassment, as well as the consequences suffered by domestic workers for these acts.  

2.SECOND SECTION: Information is provided about tools for the prevention of workplace sexual harassment, such as training, assistance, and guidance actions for domestic employers, etc.  

3.THIRD SECTION: Information is provided on the compliant mechanisms, which is the procedure that is followed in the event of a complaint, administrative sanctions, and alternative channels (judicial channels) in the event of sexual harassment.  

4.FOURTH SECTION: It explains what the “Work Without Harassment” Service consists of: a support program that domestic workers can go to, and the means to contact said service (via telephone, virtual appointments or face-to-face attention, web platform).  

Employers:  

Virtual training on the Domestic Workers Law has been carried out.  

There are guidance and training instruments for domestic workers, such as: 

Within the framework of providing facilitates to employers to promote the employment contract, the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE) approved the employment contract and pay slip models that must be used by employers of the domestic workers.  

According to General Directorate Resolution No. 0001-2021-MTPE, the contract must include the tasks to be performed by the worker, as well as the monthly remuneration, which must not be less than the minimum wage, it will also establish the addresses where the work will be carried out, which constitute the residence(s), or house-room(s) of the employer and/or their relatives.  

The modality of provision of domestic work to which the contract corresponds, by agreement of the domestic worker and the employer, is services with residence. In this sense, the employer undertakes to provide the workers with adequate accommodation, which ensures the dignity of the worker.  

In this sense, it is obliged to provide the worker (a) with adequate and timely food consisting of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a minimum time of forty-five (45) minutes to be consumed, preferably during their usual hours, within working hours, and cannot be granted before or after it. The time used for this purpose does not count within the working day, unless otherwise agreed.  

On the other hand, the payment slip must contain the start date of the employment relationship, the pension system chosen by the domestic worker, the detail of the remuneration, withholdings and contributions, and the signature of both parties or, failing that, the fingerprint.  

Likewise, this document will record the payment opportunity (if it will be weekly, biweekly, or monthly) and the payment method: cash or bank transfer. In the latter case, the bank, the account number or the Interbank Account Code (CCI) will be established.   

2. Dissemination and awareness-raising  

The Ministry of Labor has implemented a 2019-2021 Action Plan for compliance with the rights of domestic workers and coverage of the social security system. The main objectives of the plan were” formalization of domestic workers, the promotion and dissemination of their fundamental labor rights, as well as the use of compliant and inspection mechanisms for compliance with the rights recognized for this working population. Likewise, reports and publications have been produced in order to achieve an appreciation of said work. Consult here. 

After the aforementioned Action Plan, and with the validity of the new Law No. 31047 and its Regulations, the multisectoral dialogue space called “Working Group to Promote Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers” was created, Consult here, said Board meets monthly and has an annual Work Plan whose central interest is constantly promoting and disseminating the fundamental labor rights of domestic workers (Presentation in the First Report on Progress in Compliance with the Law No. 31047, Domestic Workers Law: Consult here).   

With the Action Plan in 2019, the Ministry mentions that it will dedicate efforts to the compliance with the labor law and rights for domestic workers.  

The new Regulation of Law No, 31047, Law on Domestic Workers, approved by Supreme Decree No. 009-2021-TR (Consult Resolution here) has established modifications to the Regulations of the General Labor Inspection Law, thus establishing fines for breaching the regime of domestic workers, both at the level of domestic work employers and at the level of employment agencies.   

A record of the contract for domestic workers must be made. Registration of the domestic work contract:  

The sanctions for non-compliance are the following (Articles 23 and 24 of D.S. No. 019-2006-TR):   

As of January 2023, there is the following updated data for the registration of employment contracts from 6 to 459 contracts registered as of the entry into force of Law No. 31047.  

Before the entry into force of Law No. 31047 and its Regulations, when the 2019 Action Plan was in force, there was a Working Group from which various actions were promoted in favor of this group, that is, always with the participation of social actors.  

Furthermore, with the entry into force of the new Law No. 31047 and its Regulation, the space for dialogue – now multisectoral – called “Working Group to Promote Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers” was created, consult here, a space in which the various social actors are also received for the dialogue of actions in favor of the collective.  

The Peruvian State, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE), has been working on various policies and actions to improve the labor situation of domestic workers over the years, in order to recognize and value the work of this group for its contribution to the development of the family and the country; equating their rights to those of any other worker within the framework of social justice and decent work, in accordance with the parameters established in the ILO.  

For this reason, emphasis should be placed on the process of social dialogue, generated from the ratification law of ILO Convention No. 189, which in turn created the Working Group for the preparation and monitoring of the “Action Plan for the Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers 2019-2021, within the framework of the implementation of Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO)”. As a result of the work of this Board, the Regulation of the New Law No. 31047 was debated and constructed, based on the contributions of the workers’ organizations and different members of the Board.  

Peru had Law No. 27896 on Domestic Workers since 2003. Although this regulation has achieved the recognition of some rights, gaps still persisted. In order to correct these limitations, in 2020 Law No. 31047 was approved, and in 2021 its regulation.  

The existence of the Convention and its subsequent ratification by Peru in 2018 was a key factor in promoting the modification of regulations that workers’ organizations had denounced as insufficient. The mere existence of the international norm contributed to legitimize the already existing demands of the organized workers, and before 1 year after the entry into force of Convention 189 in Peru, Law 31047 of domestic workers was approved on October 1, 2020. 

An element to highlight has been the highly participatory process that has been installed in Peru, giving rise to the creation of institutional mechanisms for consultation with the organization of domestic workers, which has resulted in the high legitimacy that has been achieved in the regulatory reform process. The Law to ratify C189 established the creation of a temporary working group called the Working Group for the preparation and monitoring of the “Action Plan for Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers 2019-2021, within the framework of the implementation of ILO Convention 189” (TH Working Group). The Technical Secretariat of the Working Group was assigned to the Directorate for the Promotion and Protection of Fundamental Labor Rights (DPPDFL) of the General Directorate of Fundamental Rights and Occupational Safety and Health of the MTPE, which is in charge of coordinating the necessary actions to fulfill the objectives and functions of the Working Group.  

The TH Working Group, created in January 2019, completed its work as the objective for which it was created has been met. Since its creation in January 2019 and to date of this report (June 2021), the TH Working Group has held sixteen (16) sessions. Its conformation was as follows: 

In addition to its members made up of various instances of the MTPE related to the matter, there was representation from the National Superintendency of Labor Inspection (SUNAFIL); Social Security of Health (ESSALUD), representatives of each one of the union centrals that integrate the National Council of Work and Promotion of the Employment and representatives of each one of the Federations of Domestic Workers.   

Likewise, the Board incorporates invited organizations from civil society which were: (IPROFOTH, ANTRAH, CASA DE PANCHITA, SINTTRAHOL, SINTRAHOGARP, CCTH, JOC PERÚ).   

A separate point is to mention that, within the Working Group, the proposed Regulation of Law 31047 was exclusively addressed, (5 working sessions), receiving contributions from all the organizations of domestic workers, in an open and participatory dialogue. Likewise, the support of the ILO and EUROSOCIAL as a cooperation source is highlighted, as well as in its capacity as observer to the Ombudsman’s Office.  

In a second part, the new Law No. 31047 in its eighth Final Complementary Provision called Social Dialogue and dissemination established the creation of the Working Group to Promote Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers, on a permanent basis, within the framework of Convention 189 of the International Labor Organizations.  

In this sense, said multisectoral Working Group is created through Ministerial Resolution No. 208-2021-TR, being of a permanent nature. The Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion, the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, the National Superintendence of Labor Inspection, the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration, representatives of each of the unions that make up the National Council of Labor  and Employment Promotion; and of each of the Federations of Domestic Workers, would make up said Work space in order to Promote Compliance with the Rights of Domestic Workers. In addition to its members, the Board incorporates invited civil society organizations at the national level, including: (IPROFOTH, ANTRAH, CASA DE PANCHITA, SINTTRAHOL, SINTRAHOGARP, CCTH, JOC PERÚ).   

Its functions include: carrying out an annual study on the situation of domestic workers, as well as participating in studies that propose alternative solutions to address the problems identified in the situational diagnosis. Likewise, prepare biannual monitoring reports on compliance with the regulations related to domestic workers; prepare and approve an annual schedule of activities of the Working Group, to be executed in coordination with the representative organizations and participating public entities.     

As well as preparing and approving an annual schedule of activities for said space and a plan of activities to be carried out for Domestic Workers Day, to be held every March 30; and organize and promote the annual fair to promote the rights of domestic workers.  

An important point to highlight is that the Working Group has an Annual Work Plan, which contains axes of vital importance for the best performance and order of the actions to be carried out by the Working Group, which allows setting guidelines and prioritizing activities with goals and those responsible for execution.