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Daily rest periods
.
 
A minimum daily rest period of 11 hours is mandated, 
mirroring the requirement of the EU Working Time Directive. This rest period 
recognizes that many domestic workers, in particular in households that hire only 
one worker, are required to work over an extensive daily span of hours; for 
example, many domestic workers are likely to be required to prepare both 
breakfast and dinner, and can therefore reasonably be assumed to work across the 
hours from 06:00 to 19:00. The framing standards recognize such an extensive 
span for the working day, while the daily hours limit prevents domestic workers 
from being required to work across this entire period. 

Weekly rest days
. A one-day weekly rest period is specified that coincides with 
the country‘s traditional or customary day of rest. This entitlement is in line with 
the ILO‘s standards on weekly rest (C14; C106; R103.) The weekly rest provisions 
also recognize the presence of minority religious groups in the domestic labour 
force by ensuring that, where domestic workers would prefer to take the weekly 
rest period to coincide with a day recognized by their religious traditions, they are 
entitled to do so. 

Night work
. Night work is singled out in order to address its repercussions for 
both health and safety and the reconciliation of paid work and family life. These 
effects are recognized in requirements that night work be subject to shorter daily 
and weekly hours, additional compensation and adequate notice. Further, night 

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Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 27 
work is entirely prohibited in hazardous or arduous work, and to recognize the 
particular nature of domestic work, conventional legal definitions of arduous work 
are expanded to acknowledge the emotional demands of much domestic labour. 
The framing standards also contain entitlements to health assessments, protection 
from occupational hazards, and assistance with travelling to work where it may be 
dangerous for the domestic worker to travel at night or difficult to arrange. 
