Domestic workers will now have rights to social security in Mexico

Mexico’s Supreme Court (SCJN)

declared that domestic workers will now have the constitutional right to be registered in the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) , which will launch a pilot program to eradicate the discrimination these women endure. Furthermore, the SCJN ordered the Congress of Union to legislate accordingly .

Acting unanimously, the members of the Second Chamber of Mexico’s Supreme Court endorsed the motion proposed by the minister Alberto Pérez Dayán , which established that the IMSS must design a public policy project to protect the rights of domestic workers, since “there is no constitutionally valid reason for the Federal Labor Law and the IMSS Statute to exclude domestic work from the compulsory social security regime.”

The criterion derived from the sentence by which the Supreme Court decided to grant an appeal for an 80 year old woman so that a federal court of labor would decide how much her employers owed her in benefits corresponding to her 50 years of service .

Mexico’s labor board will have to reassess the woman’s demands, which include the grant of a severance payment, back pay, Christmas bonus, vacation bonus, and extra hours , all of which her employers will have to pay.

However, the ruling does not force the defendants to register her at the Social Security Institute, nor does the law contemplate said duties.

Considering the discrimination mentioned by minister Pérez Dayán, the court ordered that the IMSS should implement a “pilot program” at the beginning of 2019 to design and execute a special social security regime for domestic workers providing administrative facilities so that employers could fulfill their obligations.

The National Congress will have an 18 month period after the implementation of said legislation to implement all the necessary reforms to formally integrate the law into the social security system.

The program that the Social Security Institute will have to implement, according to what the minister Pérez Dayán established, will include concepts such as occupational risk prevention, disease, maternity leave, childcare, disability, life insurance, retirement, and old age severance, among others .

Furthermore, the law should be made easy to implement for employers. For this purpose, the court has considered the possibility of excluding people enrolled in the Tax Administration Service (SAT) , a branch of the Ministry of Finance (SHCP) .

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