Despite being mandatory from Friday this week, the Labor and Social Security Inspection will not immediately sanction employers of domestic workers who have not yet carried out an occupational risk assessment of their home. This was confirmed by a source in the Yolanda Díaz department, which the testing agency relies on, given the large number of people who left the procedure in the last days before the enforcement of the obligation, when the free website that was activated for this purpose suffered an error due to a computer attack, the ministry said. The tool has been available for six months, but Labor has signaled it will remain flexible in the face of these initial non-compliances, seeking reassurance for those who were unable to complete the process.
The Ministry of Labor has specified that the obligation to assess housing risks will come into force, as the deadline does not expire this Friday, but six months have passed since prevencion10.es was launched. And the legislation regulating this new right for domestic workers stipulates that employers must complete the process six months after the tool becomes effective.
The problem is that the website has been down since Wednesday. Mid-afternoon Thursday, the ministry reported that the outage was due to a “malicious attack.” bot “Automation” puts an “artificial” overload on the platform.
A total of 16,091 suspicious IPs (internet protocols) were blocked and sent 49.4 million transactions in the 24 hours to Thursday afternoon, according to data provided by the Labor Party. That means approximately 50 million attempts to access the platform to complete a survey. Ministry officials claim they received more than 1 million requests from some of the blocked IPs. As of Friday, it continues to be unstable and many users are experiencing issues.
The ministry has not quantified how long this flexible period will last, but insists the inspections are not aimed at collecting money, but rather ensuring workers’ rights. In other words, the goal of the regulation is not to impose fines on employers who try and fail to complete the process, but to further strengthen the rights of domestic workers, the ministry claims. Labor has already taken similar steps to grant these workers access to unemployment benefits in 2022.
Failure to complete a self-assessment or to communicate the precautions taken to domestic workers may result in an inspection deemed to be a serious violation. The maximum fine for this type of violation is €49,180, only in aggravated circumstances. Without these, violations will most commonly be considered minor, with fines of up to €2,450. It should be noted that, given the constitutionally recognized inviolability of housing, inspections cannot enter housing to ensure compliance with the measures. However, we may be required to provide documentation or conduct an investigation based on your complaint.
The main employer in this sector, the Spanish Association of Personal and Domestic Services (AESPD), is actively evaluating the new right to risk assessment, but believes support measures for families are lacking.
In a recent statement, the employers’ association said: “The continued burden of obligations on the family home is viewed with skepticism as it presupposes such progress in the full rights of domestic workers without adequate measures to support their employment.” According to the latest data, employment in this sector fell by 8% last year. active population surveyin the context of global job creation.
I missed my work deadline
The Decree regulating this new right also sets out other measures that the Ministry of Labor has not completed in time. Eight months ago, in March, the restrictions that Yolanda Díaz’s department imposed on itself to develop a risk prevention training platform for domestic workers ended. Also, deadlines given for the development of action procedures for situations of harassment and violence experienced by these professionals and the completion of technical guides for risk prevention have not been met. Both documents should have been available in September, but there is no trace of them.
The Ministry acknowledges the delays in training platforms, noting that the SEPE resolution regulating training platforms is ready and the service is expected to be operational by the beginning of the year. We also confirm that protocols and technical guides are not yet available, but emphasize their impending publication and highlight their technical complexity and consensus.
In addition, the Ministry of Health is committed to “facilitating” the provision of free medical examinations to these professionals and to include this possibility in the portfolio of common services of the national health system. This appointment is not scheduled. The ministry, led by Monica Garcia, claims to be addressing the issue in its occupational health presentation.
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