Ecuador: Going to Hire a maid or gardner, employees have tremendous power

By Liam Higgins/cuencahighlife.com

Almost every expat arriving in Cuenca has heard the pitch: You can hire a maid, gardener, or cook in Ecuador for a fraction of what you would pay in North America or Europe.

This is true, although the cost has gone up considerably in recent years. What you don’t hear, however, is that there are strings attached in the form of labor law requirements that many employers, both expats and Ecuadorians, are unaware of, or simply ignore.

Those who violate the law often pay dearly. In one recent case, an expat couple who fired a caretaker on their property in the Yunguilla Valley, were ordered by the court to pay him $28,000. In another, an Ecuadorian man who replaced his maid of 18 years, had to compensate her $17,000.

Ecuador’s labor law cover much more than just maids, gardeners and guards, of course, and expats who hire Ecuadorians for other purposes, including as construction laborers or as full- or part-time employees in businesses, need to understand the legal requirements.

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Cuenca attorney Andrea Jaramillo, says the number of legal cases against employers is growing rapidly. “I have been to court a number of times recently to represent expats and Ecuadorians and, in most of those cases, the employer didn’t understand the law,” she says. Read Full Article