Biases and exclusions in the occupational health issues of domestic workers in Spain

Abstract

Domestic work is among the most precarious sectors in the Spanish labour market. In this paper, we aim to explore the exclusions against domestic workers regarding occupational health. To this end, we first review the legal regulation on domestic work, incapacity, occupational illnesses and occupational health and safety, highlighting the biases that exclude domestic workers from social protection for work-related health issues in the Spanish context. We then address how these biases apply in practice by analysing rulings by the High Court of Justice of Andalusia on incapacity in which the complainants are domestic workers. We conclude that the exclusion of domestic workers from the social protection system in relation to occupational health results from the combination of its lack of legal definition and the authorities' implicit biases against it. This necessitates a combination of legal changes and policies to counteract implicit bias.