Last week @akuareindorf and @ATLEUnit won a case saying that the "family worker" exemption from the minimum wage is unlawful. Is a *big win*. Here's my piece on domestic workers' rights, and the use (& limits) of the Equality Act for this sort of claim https://www.cloisters.com/domestic-workers-rights-and-the-equality-act-tribunal-finds-au-pair-exemption-unlawful-in-minimum-wage-claim-by-migrant-domestic-worker/

Since 1999 there's been a Regulation which says domestic workers in private households aren't entitled to the minimum wage if they are treated like a family member >

The Reg was first brought in for au pairs - cultural exchange gap students who did a bit of household work in exchange for bed, board and pocket money. But it's been a domestic servitude / abuse loophole for years >

Last week, the Tribunal decided the Regulation is sex discrimination under Equality Act. It affects migrant domestic workers worst, who are mostly women. (They are also vulnerable, as they often work on the Overseas Domestic Visa) >

Immigration status isn't protected under Equality Act and the Supreme Court has declined to expand race/nationality to cover it, so bringing it as a sex discrimination claim was necessary and strategic >

The government couldn't justify the Reg. It has known for years that the Reg is used by abusive employers of migrant workers and it even re-enacted the Reg in 2015, but it couldn't evidence any legitimate aim for it. >

This judgment takes a different approach to last month's South African ruling, which took an intersectional view of structural discrimination faced by domestic workers. @vmantouvalou and @nataliesedacca have written beautifully about this > https://twitter.com/labour_blog/status/1337344894550102016?s=20

I don't say this in the blog but am sure there will be people relying on the Reg in good faith e.g. to pay family members for bits of work / for true 'au pair' situations who will have a bad time of this.