DOMESTIC WORK AND PANDEMIC

the labor environment and the possibility of occupational accidents

Abstract

Historically segregated and socially destined to occupy the category of underemployment, domestic workers have always faced the devaluation of their activities, and, for cultural reasons, it is still present in Brazilian homes, in different social classes. Thus, no matter how much progress has been made in the labor field in coming to protect domestic work, its activity is still characterized by disrespect for jurisdictional protection, a fact that is due to the cultural heritage of the lack of protection to domestic work and the fact that its work environment being the employer's home, which makes inspection difficult. Thus, in times of pandemic, the question arises of how to ensure the health of this category of worker in the face of disrespect for the legal rules that characterize it, as well as the difficulty of carrying out the inspection of the activity, since it requires that it be carried out inside the home of the domestic employer. In times of a pandemic, social isolation and the functioning of commercial establishments were regulated, but there is no type of recommendation regarding the domestic environment, and the great paradox was born: the house, which was supposed to be a safe environment, becomes local risk of contagion to their workers, since the domestic employer often takes the risk of keeping his domestic employee working and, at the same time, the employee also takes risks in the search for the maintenance of his job. To face the proposed theme, the research methodologically was based on the theoretical-dogmatic method, carrying out the interdisciplinary bibliographic revisiting of the proposed theme, making use of the indirect bibliographic documentation research technique and analysis of the sample under study. Thus, the objective of the present work is to seek to understand the peculiarities that involve domestic work, as well as to understand the difficulties in inspecting the work environment, the risks of contamination and the responsibility of domestic employers in the event of a work accident due to contamination by the coronavirus (COVID-19).