Excluded workers and exempted employers: A qualitative study on domestic workers' access to social protection in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the Netherlands, many part-time domestic workers fallwithin the scope of a particular type of labour law, that givesthem fewer social protection rights and that renders privateactors (households and workers) responsible for exercisingthose rights. Over the years, this policy has been criticisedfor institutionalising the differential treatment of domesticworkers, which goes against ideas propagated in internationalinitiatives, like the European Pillar of Social Rights. This con-tribution explores Dutch domestic workers' access to socialprotection in greater detail. Drawing on semi-structuredinterviews with 30 domestic workers, we show that theactual access to social protection greatly varies over differentworkers and over different employment relationships of indi-vidual workers, but generally falls below par. Our findingsindicate that this is partly due to the fact that the Dutch pol-icy option underestimates domestic workers' wariness ofplacing demands on the households they work for, whichraises questions over the desirability of non-mediatedemployment relationships in the sector. We conclude with abrief discussion and suggestions for future policy directions.