From Wednesday, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) will enable the new module that will ensure domestic workers online.
The measure, approved by the Board of Directors of the CCSS, seeks to increase insurance coverage and increase the health and pension protection of these workers.
According to data from the CCSS, domestic workers are the labor group that has the least protection, since only 30% of them are directly insured, and of that percentage, about 15% are adequately insured as wage earners.
According to Gustavo Picado, financial manager of the CCSS, the platform of the Centralized Collection System (SICERE), will simplify the registration of this sector of the population.
It will allow the population to register their domestic worker online in a more agile and simple way, from the comfort of their home, 24 hours a day, and without having to travel to a physical branch of the CCSS,”
said Picado.
If you are going to use the platform, follow these steps:
1. Enter the CCSS website , select the “Online Service” option from the main menu and then “SICERE Virtual Office”.
2. Type your username and password.
3. Select the “Home Service” option from the main menu, located at the top right of the screen.
4. Accept the conditions of the Service of Inscription of Domestic Service of the Virtual Office.
5. Provide information about your workplace, telephone and other information requested by the system. On the same screen you must register a bank account in your name.
6. Provide the information of the domestic worker to be insured, including national ID number, insured number if foreign, telephone number, email, type of insurance, salary and type of workday.
In order to use this new form of insurance, the employer must be up to date with the CCSS, register a bank account, update the data as employer and the insured workers in their name when requested by the CCSS.
If the domestic worker is a foreigner, the employer must register them using their social security number, in case of not having an assigned number, they must request it through the electronic mail, in addition to attaching a copy of their passport or residence card.
If the domestic worker has multiple employers, they are all obliged to insure her, with the advantage that, the more employers comply with the responsible insurance, the less the amount paid by each one, since the quota will be divided among all, according to the distribution of the total salary received.
For Alejandra Mora Mora, Minister of the Status of Women and Executive President of the National Institute of Women (INAMU), this regulation is the result of an inter-institutional effort with social organizations that defend women’s labor rights.