Trabalho doméstico e inviolabilidade do domicílio: o lar como fronteira da fiscalização no Brasil

Abstract

This study analyzes domestic work in Brazil from its slaveholding roots and the historical continuities that still sustain relationships marked by inequality, informality, and rights violations. It highlights how the legacy of slavery shaped the devaluation of work performed mostly by Black women, who are often subjected to contemporary slavery. In this context, the research also investigates the role of Labor Inspectors (AFT) and the challenges they face in inspecting domestic environments, particularly in light of the principle of home inviolability. The study proposes the need to reinterpret this right in light of the principle of human dignity in order to ensure effective labor protection for domestic workers. This reality reveals the persistence of structural inequalities of race, gender, and class, which shape the profile of domestic workers and restrict their access to fundamental rights. Throughout the research, it is shown that, even after important legislative advances, the effective implementation of domestic workers’ rights remains deficient. Accordingly, the study critically examines how the constitutional principle of home inviolability—constructed under a liberal conception of privacy and property—has been instrumentalized as a barrier to the inspection of contemporary slave labor in domestic environments, limiting the actions of Labor Inspectors even in the face of reports of serious violations. Methodologically, the research follows a deductive approach, drawing on the works of scholars such as Cida Bento, Sueli Carneiro, Silvia Federici, Maria Mies, Angela Davis, Adilson Moreira, Jessé Souza, among others, in order to establish connections between domestic work, contemporary slavery, the intersectionality of gender, race, and class, and the right to privacy. In addition to the theoretical review, the dissertation presents an institutional analysis of the structure of the Labor Inspection Authority, tracing its origins and current normative responsibilities, established by ordinances and instructions from the Secretariat of Labor Inspection. As a response to the limitations identified, the study proposes the issuance of a specific Normative Instruction to regulate the inspection of domestic work based on objective criteria and to authorize, in exceptional and well-founded situations, the entry of Labor Inspectors into households without a judicial warrant. The study concludes that inspection in the domestic sector requires a redefinition of the private sphere, not as a territory immune from State action, but as a workplace subject to legal protection. Recognizing the household as a place of work is essential to confronting the sub-citizenship of domestic workers and consolidating the concrete application of human rights within the context of invisibilized labor relations.