Domestic Workers, EU Working Time Law and Implementation Deficits in National Law - Change in Sight?
25 Pages Posted: 26 Mar 2021
Date Written: 2021
Abstract
The full or partial exclusion of domestic workers from EU Working Time Directive 2003/88/EC is a
longstanding practice in many Member States that has been tolerated by the Commission for a long time.
Since 2017, there is some change in sight. While domestic workers remained at the margin of attention
in the Commission’s earlier communications and implementation reports of Directive 2003/88/EC, the
issue has gradually gained visibility. This indicates a remarkable shift, which has up to now not yet
attracted due attention. This article analyses the shifting position of EU institutions towards domestic
worker’s rights. The subsequent investigation of selected national regulation raises doubts as to its
compatibility with EU law. Different ways of selected Member States (Austria, Germany, Italy, the UK)
to prevent the application of the Working Time Directive to domestic workers are analysed. EU working
time law and national implementation deficits for domestic workers are analysed in the context of the
international scholarly discussion and the ILO’s ‘decent work’ agenda. Although not free from
contradictions, this development is retraced as a move from the invisibility of domestic workers in EU
labour law towards the Commission’s open demand in 2017 that Member States comply with Directive
2003/88/EC for this group of precarious workers.
Keywords: EU working time law – domestic workers – implementation deficits – comparative law – decent work agenda
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