Domestic work in EU law : the relevance of EU employment law in challenging domestic workers' vulnerability

Abstract

The importance of EU employment law sources as tools to challenge the vulnerability of domestic workers has surprisingly been a neglected theme in the growing legal scholarship on paid domestic work in Europe. This is due to a flawed assumption that EU employment law does not apply to domestic workers. I challenge this assumption and provide a more nuanced picture. My aim is twofold: to show clearly when EU employment law applies to domestic workers and what rights and protections they can derive. From this follows the broader conclusion that EU employment law is an important but misunderstood resource for domestic workers.