BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2536|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2536
Author: Montanez (D)
Amended: 8/7/06 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMM. : 3-2, 6/28/06
AYES: Alarcon, Kuehl, Lowenthal
NOES: Ackerman, Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 8/7/06
AYES: Murray, Alquist, Escutia, Florez, Ortiz, Romero,
Torlakson
NOES: Aanestad, Ashburn, Battin, Dutton, Poochigian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alarcon
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-34, 5/31/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Employment: minimum wage and overtime
compensation
SOURCE : California Household Worker Coalition
DIGEST : This bill extends wage and overtime pay
requirements in current law to personal attendants, as
defined.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, Section 510 of the Labor Code,
requires the payment of daily overtime compensation at the
rate of (1) one and one-half times regular pay after eight
hours of daily work and 40 hours of weekly work, and (2)
CONTINUED
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twice regular pay after 12 hours of daily work and after
eight hours of work on the seventh day of any workweek.
Personal attendants, however, are exempted from the
overtime pay requirements of Section 510 of the Labor Code
by two wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission
(IWC): Wage Order 15 which exempts "personal attendants"
and Wage Order 5 which covers the public housekeeping
industry and includes home health aides.
NOTE: Please refer to the policy committee analysis for a
detailed discussion of the wage orders and federal
regulations.
This bill eliminates the overtime exemption for personal
attendants provided under current law.
This bill provides that overtime pay requirements apply to
personal attendants, as defined, which includes babysitters
over the age of 18 employed by a private household or by a
third party. This bill specifically exempts those who are
under 18 years of age and those who work with those of
advanced age, those with a physical disability or with a
mental deficiency, those who have not emancipated from the
foster care system, those in 24-hour residential care and
those in a licensed community care facility.
Existing law entitles an employee to recover unpaid wages
received less than the minimum wage and to recover
liquidated damages in an amount equal to the wages
unlawfully paid and interest on that amount.
Existing law expressly provides that this provision does
not authorize recovery of liquidated damages for failure to
pay overtime compensation.
This bill provides that these overtime compensation
requirements shall apply to a personal attendant. This
entitles a household worker to recover liquidated damages
in an amount equal to the unlawfully withheld wages or
unpaid overtime compensation plus interest on that amount.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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The Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Labor
Standards Enforcement believes the increase in workload
that will result from overtime claims from nannies and
outreach to nanny employers regarding time keeping will be
absorbable.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/10/06)
California Household Worker Coalition (source)
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California
California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative
California Partnership
Caring Hands - Manos Cari?osas
Chinese Progressive Association
DataCenter, Impact Research for Social Justice
East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation
Enlace
Filipino Community Center
Filipinos For Affirmative Action
Garment Worker Center
Koreantown Immigrant Workers Alliance
Law Center For Families
MAAC Project
Marin Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
Marin Interfaith Committee
Maternal and Child Health Access
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Office of Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles
Pilipino Studies and Tagalog Collective of UC Riverside
Pilipino Workers' Center of Southern California
Poor Magazine, Inc.
Progressive Jewish Alliance
San Francisco Gray Panthers
School of Unity & Liberation
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network
St. Peter's Housing Committee
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy
Street Lever Health Project
The Women's Foundation of California
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Women's Collective of La Raza Centro Legal
WORKSAFE!
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/10/06)
Department of Finance
A Servant's Heart - Senior Care
AccentCare
Accredited Nursing Care
Adventist Health Home Care Services
Alta Home Care
AristoCare Home Health Services
Assisted Home Care
At Home Nursing
At Your Home Family Care
Becoming Independent
California Association for Health Services at Home
California Chamber of Commerce
California Foundation for Independent Living Centers
California Rehabilitation Association
Care at Home, Verdugo Hills Hospital
Comfort Keepers
COMPASS Care Services
Craig Cares
Eskaton Properties, Inc.
Geriatric Care Manager
Hearts In Homecare, Inc.
Help at Home Senior Care
Help Unlimited
Heritage Senior Services
Home Care-Giver Services, A Division of ResCare, Inc.
Home Instead Senior Care
Homewatch CareGivers
Jay Nolan Community Services
JG Solutions, Inc.
Lehman-Kelly-Sadler & O'Keefe
Matched CareGivers
Maxim Healthcare Services
OAKS of HEBRON, INC.
Oxford Health Care
Oxford Services
Provident Care, Inc.
Saddleback Home Caregiver
Seniors at Home, Inc.
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Sierra Nevada Home Care Supplemental Services
South Coast Medical Center Home Care
Spirit Home Health Care
Visiting Angels
Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : This bill is sponsored by a
coalition of domestic worker advocates who argue that this
bill is necessary to advance the rights and working
conditions of household workers. Supporters argue that
domestic workers and personal attendants are particularly
vulnerable to abuses from employers and employment agencies
because they are not members of a labor union and current
labor laws do not protect them equally in comparison to
workers in other industries. Supporters argue that these
measures are the first step in ensuring that household
workers have equal protections, which would benefit all
workers in this industry as well as California families.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents, including the
California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH)
argue that elimination of the 20-year-old exemption for
personal attendants and live-in household employees would
have many unintended harmful consequences on all of the
stakeholders involved. CAHSAH argues that the current
overtime exemption has been in place since a 1986 decision
of IWC to redefine the personal attendant exemption
employed in a private household to employees of third party
employers. It was specifically put in place in recognition
of the unique nature of the work being performed. That is,
these employees generally spend time as a companion with
the elderly, frail and disabled. They may be physically
on-site, but they do not work all the hours that they are
present at the home or residence of the client. Moreover,
CAHSAH argues that this bill will have negative
consequences for consumers, employees and employers.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Arambula, Baca, Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Calderon,
Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Coto, De La Torre, Dymally,
Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Jones,
Karnette, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber,
Lieu, Liu, Montanez, Mullin, Nava, Negrete McLeod,
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Oropeza, Parra, Pavley, Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana,
Salinas, Torrico, Umberg, Vargas, Wolk, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Aghazarian, Benoit, Blakeslee, Bogh, Canciamilla,
Cogdill, Daucher, DeVore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman,
Haynes, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Keene, La Malfa,
La Suer, Leslie, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy,
Nakanishi, Niello, Plescia, Richman, Sharon Runner,
Spitzer, Strickland, Tran, Villines, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Nation
NC:mel 8/11/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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