A new pilot program aimed at getting Mexico’s domestic workers affiliated with the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social (IMSS) health care program kicked off this month.
While not obligatory, employers of domestic workers are being urged to sign up their maids and other temporary workers to the initiative.
The program, which will run for 18 months, calculates a monthly “quota” based on the earnings of each applicant. The fee should be paid for by the patrón (employer), or in the case of multiple employers, shared between them.
Not only will affiliation with the IMSS provide domestic workers with full health care, including maternity care, but also pensions and other benefits such as paid vacations and Christmas bonuses.
Sign-up started April 1 for affiliation starting in May, and can be carried out online or at IMSS sub-delegation offices.
A link to the registration page is found on the IMSS home page at imss.gob.mx.
The site has a useful virtual “calculator” to ascertain the projected monthly fee, which is based on the person’s income and number of employers she/he has. Basic information about the domestic worker’s employers is requested for the registration process.
The pilot program will only operate in nine states: Jalisco, Edomex, CDMX, Veracruz, Puebla, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Oaxaca and Guanajuato.
The federal government estimates there are around 2.4 million domestic workers in Mexico.
Some 85,000 people (96 percent of them women) are domestic employes in the Guadalajara metro area. Of this number, around 75 percent are working without any kind of social security benefit, either their own or through a spouse.
Although the pilot program does not make it obligatory for employers to sign up their domestic workers for the IMSS, the Supreme Court has already ruled that there is no legal impediment to prevent this. It is possible this stipulation may be drafted into law at the end of the evaluation period.