Constitutional Court Ruling Gives Domestic Workers One Day Off and Less Hours Daily
Domestic workers in Costa Rica had one more reason to celebrate International Women's Day as the Constitutional Court ruled in their favour.

The president of the Asociación de Trabajadoras Domésticas, Rosa María Acosta, had made a Constitutional appeal to article 104 of the Código de Trabajo (Labour Code) in the hopes of bettering working conditions for domestic workers.

Presently, the working day for a domestic workers is of 12 hours, with an employer asking for up to an additional 4 hours work, for a total of a 16 hour work day, twice the work day of other workers. The total work time can be broken up into parts, which effectively reduces their free time.

The Constitutional Court decision guarantees domestic workers a maximum work day of 12 hours and must be continuous.

In the case of minors who work as domestics, the magistrates had their differences in the possibility of prohibiting minors working and opted for the maximum work day of 12 hours and cannot be forced to work overtime.

Incredible as it may sound, but today domestic workers are the only workers who are left with only a 1/2 day per week of free time, while most other workers enjoy two days off a week.

With the ruling, domestic workers now will be able to enjoy one full day off. In addition, the Constitutional court ruling also now guarantees domestic workers time off for statutory holidays.