Sex workers in Belgium now have maternity leave and sick pay in world first for employment rights

Sex workers in Belgium are now entitled to formal employment contracts, which include sick pay and maternity leave, under a landmark law that went into effect Sunday.

Sex workers in Belgium are now entitled to formal employment contracts, which include sick pay and maternity leave, under a landmark law that went into effect Sunday. Under the law, which Belgian lawmakers passed in May, sex workers signing such a contract also become entitled to a raft of other rights and protections that normally apply to workers employed in other industries, such as health insurance and unemployment benefits. “This is a world first in the sense that it is the first comprehensive legislative framework that grants sex workers equal rights (with other employees) and protects them from risks inherent to the (job),” Daan Bauwens, director of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers, told CNN. Sex workers signing a formal employment contract now have “every kind of social protection” granted to the majority of employees in Belgium, according to Quentin Deltour, public relations manager at Espace P, a group advocating for sex workers’ rights in Belgium, which helped draft the law. Under the legislation, sex workers also have the right to refuse to provide services to a client or perform a specific sexual act, and to stop any activity at any time. The new law requires the employers of sex workers to obtain a license from the government, Deltour told CNN. Licenses are only granted if the prospective employer meets certain criteria, including having no previous convictions for rape or human trafficking.