Housewives are rescued in conditions analogous to slavery

Two women were rescued this Thursday (3) in conditions classified as analogous to slavery, bringing the total number of rescues in the country involving domestic workers in 2022 to four.

The stories were recorded in Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba. A week earlier, two more were recorded in Natal and Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte.

In Campina Grande (PB), in addition to taking care of the house and elderly bosses in working hours identified as exhausting, the 57-year-old victim was responsible for approximately one hundred dogs adopted by the family, distributed between a kennel and the rooms of the residence. impregnated with the smell of vomit, feces and urine, according to the authorities investigating the case.

“The situation found in the house was of total indignity, not only because of the degrading conditions of work and accommodation, but mainly because of the psychological prison that made the worker remain in that place”, says Labor tax auditor Lidiane Barros. , who coordinated the action in Paraíba.

The woman, according to the investigation, even had the mattress where she slept intended for dogs in labor, had to share a single mattress with her employer and, as an alternative, turned a table in the kitchen into a bed.

“There was confusion between the subordination resulting from the employment relationship with the paternal and fraternal subordination. The employers presented themselves as father and sister, but demanded the maid’s services with shouts, orders and demonstrating their place of subordination”, says the auditor.

The woman also reportedly received repeated promises that she would be adopted, which never happened. “All the time, they reinforced the idea that she belonged to the family. But, instead of being guaranteed the possibility of studying, having a professional life similar to that of the employer’s children, she remained in the nullity and subservience of an unworthy domestic work”, says.

The names of the employers involved were not released by authorities.

The victim was 18 years old when she left Cuité, also in Paraíba, recommended by acquaintances, to work as a family maid in Campina Grande, 113 km away.

“It’s been 40 years inside a residence, living day and night the structure of that family, serving those people, inserted in that family context to serve, without opportunities to have a full social life and build their own paths”, says the coordinator of the operation, about the emotional dependence identified in the story.

The Defender’s Office will propose an agreement to the employer for the payment of severance pay and individual moral damage “to repair all the exploitation of work and damage to the physical and mental health of the employee”, according to an official note. If there is no agreement, according to the Public Defender’s Office, legal measures will be taken.

The other rescue took place in Campo Bom (RS). The victim, a 55-year-old woman with an intellectual disability, was rescued after 40 years working without pay and under name-calling, physical aggression and threats, indoors and in front of neighbors, according to the investigation.

According to the authorities who participated in the operation, the woman was prevented from going out alone and from talking to outsiders. She also had her documents withheld by her employer and did not attend school.

The names of the employers were also not released.

In both cases, the workers were taken to family members’ homes, they are receiving psychological support and the actions that are underway will ask for back wages and severance pay, for example.

The head of the Inspection Division for the Eradication of Slave Labor of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, Maurício Krepsky, says that “just as in rural or urban work, domestic employment classified as analogous to slavery is defined as forced labor, exhausting , degrading working conditions or debt bondage”.

In Rio Grande do Norte, a case revealed this week involves a woman who was allegedly recruited when she was still in the 4th grade, at the age of 12, by the teacher. The story took place in Mossoró, where she ended up living for 32 years in conditions identified as analogous to slavery and a victim of possible sexual abuse.

The suspicion of violence weighs against the teacher’s husband, the pastor of the Assembly of God, Geraldo Braga da Cunha. wanted by leafthe law firm representing him and his family denied the allegations.