Hanna Jarzabek

PHOTOGRAPHY

There is also a huge abuse of hiring workers without documentation to save what an employer should pay to Social Security system. And it is a case especially of those employers who have a very patriotic speech, close to conservative. They are not bothered by the fact that they are taking advantage of a worker and that they are not contributing to the public Social Security system, their patriotism does not go that far. Then when I try to claim this expense, they put their hands to their heads saying that how is it possible that the "chacha" (depictive way of calling domestic worker in Spain) wants €6000! Yes, but maybe you were exploiting her for 6 years, without paying additional hours or Social Security ... € 6000 is not enough in this case.

There are also female workers whom the bosses register with Social Security system but do not declare all the hours. In general, women discover it when they need sick leave and the benefit they receive is much less than what they would be entitled to. Then they ask for a contribution certificate, which can be issued together with the certificate of working life and there they realize that the employer was not contributing for them, as he should. The problem here is that, according to the Spanish law, domestic service does not contribute the same way a common employment relationship does. A common employment relationship quotes are based on the salary received, but domestic service goes by tables, by modules. Many discover that perhaps they are applying the table that corresponds to the salary of € 700 per month, while they earn, for example, € 950.  

I also came across situations where, since the woman worked as an intern and without papers, they did not pay her salary because they said they compensated it in rent and food. Sea, they worked months without charging anything…. How can you assume that a salary equates to rent, especially if the employee has to be an intern?! You have to remember that an internal employee usually starts working at 7 in the morning to prepare breakfast and everything and ends up going to bed at eleven, after dinner, picking up etc. And you don't pay her anything for all this work saying that what she does makes up for her maintenance and rent?? !!

Or they are paid very little. I have had cases of interns who were paid € 700 per month. They had a Saturday afternoon off and had to come back on Sunday night. What does a woman do in these cases? Are they going to rent a room for € 300 to spend one night a week if they earn € 700? Well, for this they stay on Saturday also to sleep and on Sunday they go out for a walk to the park to take some fresh air and go back to work. That's the life of many inmates.

During the pandemic, I have also seen open crimes of coercion. Employers locked employees in their homes, preventing them from going out for fear of contagion. Employees were not given any options, and that is simply a crime of coercion. You cannot lock someone in your house; you are restricting the freedom of this person. 

In the pandemic, the dismissal became also much more common. In general it is already a big problem in this sector because there is the figure of dismissal without cause. During the pandemic, many used it to fire the employee and in these cases there was no protection from the government. I am currently with several open cases trying to fight so that the ban on dismissal made by the government for the pandemic period also affects the domestic service sector and that additional compensation can be claimed.

In general, many women are afraid to report anything. On the one hand, many of them come to Spain without knowing their rights, assuming that, since they do not have legal papers, they have no right to anything, which is not true but it is something that employers play a lot with. Those who have their administrative situation in order fear reprisals. The big problem here is that, as the employment relationship takes place in the private home, it is very difficult to obtain evidence and prove the abuses. What I advise are two things: record the conversation with your boss, which is perfectly legal if you are part of this conversation or send a burofax when you want to claim overtime, for example. If you send a burofax and two days later you are fired, there is a clear temporal link between the claim of right and retaliation.  

In general, many women are afraid to report anything. On the one hand, many of them come to Spain without knowing their rights, assuming that, since they do not have legal papers, they have no right to anything, which is not true but it is something that employers play a lot with. Those who have their administrative situation in order fear reprisals. The big problem here is that, as the employment relationship takes place in the private home, it is very difficult to obtain evidence and prove the abuses. What I advise are two things: record the conversation with your boss, which is perfectly legal if you are part of this conversation or send a burofax when you want to claim overtime, for example. If you send a burofax and two days later you are fired, there is a clear temporal link between the claim of right and retaliation.

The profile of the abusing employer, from my experience at least, is generally very wealthy people with very good incomes. I have had very few cases of middle / working class abusive employers. What I also perceive is that they see the worker as a “talking household appliance” and they are outraged that this "appliance" thinks to have rights. This type of employer knows that he has a power over these women that consists of the promise to do papers. This invisible power is a source of many abuses, which the workers also consent to. Because achieving social roots changes their lives: going from a situation in which they do not have papers or permission to work to a regulated situation changes everything and women assume an incredible amount of abuse to achieve this goal.

In case of complaint, I try to reach an agreement, although the first time employers generally react very aggressively. Many try to take everything to the emotional level of: "how bad she is, with how good we have been giving her this opportunity to work." These speeches are very common and in reality the woman worked 16 hours a day, without contributions, without vacations ... in terms of good and bad we would have to see. 

Many outright deny that the woman had worked for them, or even accuse her of theft. These accusations of theft were so frequent that I got tired of it and began to tell the lawyer that if there was the robbery they have to file the corresponding complaint and we will see. Now, if you lose the trial, we are going to see the procedural costs of this and the possibility of a false report because it is a very serious accusation.

The entire complaint, conciliation and trial process, if necessary, is very complicated. You have to be very careful, because it is difficult to obtain evidence and the employer has a privileged position there. It is his home, his caretaker, his neighbors and probably everyone will take his side, even lying if necessary. Also if you go to court, do not forget that many of the judges have domestic workers in their homes and tend to have empathy towards the employer. I perceive it a lot and that is why I also try what I can to reach an agreement in the conciliation phase.

For all this to change, many things will have to change, starting with removing the stigma attached to this work. It is feminized work and feminized jobs are always seen as inferior. Domestic workers suffer triple exploitation: sexist, labor and from state. They are the only ones who have this triple fight, nobody else has it.

At the legal level, the minimum is that the domestic service should be included in the General Regime of the Social Security System. What happens is that the State does not want it because it presumes that people will do fraud to access unemployment benefits. But there is already a fraud! We are leaving a group of people outside the system, who also generate a huge amount of black money, for assuming that if it is regularized there will be fraud with unemployment. Seriously? Is this the explanation?

The social rooting, demanded by the Immigration Law as a condition to obtain legal papers, is another very perverse thing, and the State knows it perfectly. Officially these women are prohibited from working, but they work because the only way to regularize their situation is to work, that is, the only way to get papers is to break the legal norm. When the dossier is presented to ask for regularization after three years, everyone knows that these women have been working for years, that the contract they give you does not refer to a new employment relationship, that this relationship probably have been existing for years.

Spanish society is aging and the need for care is increasing, but I am pessimistic about change. It has to be very deep and to this day there is nothing that tells me that there is a change of discourse. It is getting worse and I think that now, in times of crisis there will be even more layoffs and abuses in this sector. What should happen is a general care strike, which would cause chaos and collapse, because many people would not be able to go to work. It is a utopian idea but it will be the best way to externalize the problems of this sector. Until people feel directly concerned nothing changes; it is like that.