THE COURT HELD THAT THE PROVISIONS THAT EXEMPT DOMESTIC WORKERS FROM THE 8-HOUR WORK DAY AND LIMIT THE TIME TO PAY DAMAGES AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN FIRED ARE NOT DISCRIMINATORY.

Judges: Mario Pérez Guerra, Gladys Chacón Corado, Juan Francisco Flores Juárez, Roberto Molina Barreto, Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre, Carlos Enrique Luna Villacorta y Jorge Mario Álvarez Quirós.

A local women workers' rights organization challenged the constitutionality of various provisions in the Guatemalan Labor Code for being discriminatory against women. Especifically, they challenged the provisions that exclude domestic workers (the vast majority of them, women) from the requirement to limit work days to 8 hours and work weeks to 44 hours and the ones that limit the payment of damages to 4 months when they have been terminated.

The Court reasoned that domestic workers are in a particular situation because they live with their employers and therefore, their work cannot be considered continuous. This "particular situation" makes domestic work not comparable to other kinds of work and therefore, the provisions regulating it are not discriminatory or unconstitutional.