Mexico: Health Care Insurance for Domestic Workers

The new legislation approved by the Senate in Mexico will provide domestic workers with access to health insurance and other social security benefits.

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The recently approved legislation will assist at least two million domestic workers, including housekeepers, gardeners, and more. The Senate unanimously approved the legislation in favor of reforming the Social Security Law.

The law enrolls all domestic workers in a simplified IMSS social security scheme obligatory. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled resolutions decreeing that domestic workers must have access to social security benefits like any other worker. Still, on the other hand, there was no legislation to support it.

According to the statements of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, by February, only 3 percent of the 2.2 million domestic workers had access to social security benefits. The recent law approved by the Senate will pass to the lower house of Congress for further approval.

When approved this new legislative proposal, domestic workers in Mexico will have the legal right to access benefits such as health care, sick leave, maternity leave, paid vacations, worker's compensation, childcare, life insurance, severance pay, and a pension.

Including employers of housekeepers, gardeners, drivers, nannies, and more will need to be registered legally in a simplified social security scheme and pay the relevant contributions. According to Senator Napoleón Gómez, recognizing domestic workers' social and labor rights is urgent.

"For a long time, domestic workers have invested time and effort in work that is essential for the correct functioning of society but for which they receive little pay and no recognition," said Gómez. "This is the enormous debt we have with a sector of the population that is mainly made up of women, 94% currently, according to data from [national statistics agency] INEGI."