BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 163|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 163
Author: V. Manuel Perez (D)
Amended: 6/16/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Read and adopted, 6/28/10
SUBJECT : Domestic worker rights
SOURCE : The Domestic Workers Coalition
DIGEST : This resolution encourages greater protections
in federal and state law for domestic workers.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1. California's domestic workers-comprised of
housekeepers, nannies, and caregivers for children,
persons with disabilities, and the elderly-work in
private households to care for the health, safety, and
well-being of the most important aspects of
Californians' lives, their families and homes.
2. Domestic workers play a critical role in California's
economy, working to ensure the health and prosperity of
California families and freeing others to participate
in the workforce, which is increasingly necessary in
CONTINUED
ACR 163
Page
2
these difficult economic times.
3. Domestic workers across the state of California have
joined together to form the California Domestic
Workers' Coalition to achieve social and economic
justice and secure much-needed protections for domestic
workers under California's labor laws.
4. The National Domestic Workers Alliance is organizing
domestic workers across the United States to end the
exclusion of domestic workers from federal labor
protections, and the International Domestic Workers
Network, made up of domestic worker organizations
across the world, has formed to fight exploitation and
abuse by creating and advancing international standards
in the industry.
5. The treatment of domestic service workers under
federal and state laws has historically reflected
stereotypical assumptions about the nature of domestic
work, specifically that the relationship between
employer and "servant" was "personal," rather than
commercial, in character; that employment within a
household was not "real" productive work; and that
women did not work to support their families.
6. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which Congress
enacted to ensure a fair day's pay for a fair day's
work, excluded domestic workers from its protection at
a time when 60 percent of African American women
workers were employed as domestic workers.
7. The vast majority of domestic workers are women of
color and immigrants who, because of race and sex
discrimination and fear of deportation, are
particularly vulnerable to unlawful employment
practices and abuses.
8. Domestic workers usually work alone, behind closed
doors, and out of the public eye, leaving them
isolated, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and
unable to advocate collectively for better working
conditions.
ACR 163
Page
3
9. Domestic workers often labor under harsh conditions,
work long hours for low wages without benefits or job
security, and face termination without notice or
severance pay, leaving many suddenly without both a job
and a home.
10. Most domestic workers work to support families and
children of their own and more than half are primary
income earners, yet two-thirds of domestic workers earn
low wages or wages below the poverty line.
11. Many live-in domestic workers are not permitted to
make basic decisions regarding the food they eat or to
cook or heat their meals.
12. In the worst cases, domestic workers are verbally and
physically abused or sexually assaulted, forced to
sleep in conditions unfit for human habitation, and
stripped of their privacy and dignity.
13. Many employers desire to treat their caregivers and
housekeepers fairly, but do not have the information to
guide them in setting terms of employment, and may
never develop a formal contract or clearly establish
the rights and obligations each party owes to the
other.
14. Domestic workers are still excluded from the most
basic protections afforded the rest of the labor force
under state and federal law, including the rights to
fair wages, safe and healthy working conditions,
workers' compensation, protection from discriminatory
and abusive treatment, and to engage in collective
bargaining.
15. Domestic workers are excluded under the National Labor
Relations Act, leaving them unprotected when asking for
respect of their basic rights and unable to
collectively bargain for conditions allowing them to
labor in dignity.
16. Domestic workers whose primary work is to care for
children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities are
excluded from overtime protections, meal and rest
ACR 163
Page
4
breaks, and reporting time pay under California law,
and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act exempts
live-in domestic workers from overtime provisions and
exempts "companions" for the elderly and "casual"
babysitters from federal minimum wage and overtime
provisions.
17. Domestic workers are excluded from the protections of
the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1973 and therefore do not have the right to work in a
healthy and safe environment, leaving them exposed to
dangerous and unhealthy working conditions on a regular
basis.
18. Household employees who work less than 52 hours in the
90 days prior to sustaining an injury are excluded from
California workers' compensation coverage, leaving many
domestic workers without an adequate remedy for
injuries suffered in the course of their employment.
19. Because state and federal antidiscrimination laws
apply only to employers with certain minimum numbers of
employees, domestic workers are often unprotected
against discrimination based on race, color, religion,
sex, national origin, age, and disability.
20. Because domestic workers do not have the right to a
minimum number of consecutive hours of uninterrupted
sleep, they are often woken up repeatedly throughout
the night, leaving them sleep-deprived, vulnerable to
illness, and unable to provide proper care for those in
their charge.
21. Because the vast majority of domestic workers receive
no health benefits from their employers and have no
right to paid sick days, many workers cannot take time
off to deal with illness or medical emergencies,
thereby endangering their own health and the health of
the families they care for.
This resolution declares the following:
1. That coverage of domestic workers under state and
federal labor law should be an expression of respect
ACR 163
Page
5
for their dignity and equality and the importance of
the work they perform, and a rejection of antiquated
and long-discredited stereotypes about domestic work.
2. That the Legislature finds that domestic workers are
entitled to industry-specific protections and labor
standards that eliminate discriminatory provisions in
the labor laws and guarantee domestic workers basic
workplace rights to ensure that domestic workers are
treated with the respect and dignity they so richly
deserve.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/10)
The Domestic Workers' Coalition (source)
9to5 California, National Association of Working Women
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California
California Domestic Worker Rights Coalition
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing
Committee
California Partnership
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Chinese Progressive Association of San Francisco
City and County of San Francisco, Department of Public
Health
Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Filipino Advocates for Justice
Golden Gate University Women's Employment Rights Clinic
Graton Day Labor Program
Instituto de Educacion del Sur de California
Labor Project for Working Families
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco
Bay Area
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
National Korean American Service and Education Consortium
National Lawyers Guild - Labor and Employment Committee
Numerous Individuals
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church
ACR 163
Page
6
People Organized to Win Employment Rights
Pilipino Worker Center
Rajiv Bhatia, M.D., Director of Environmental Heath, S.F.
Dept. of Public Health
Salvadoran-American Leadership and Educational Fund
San Francisco Day Labor Program, Women's Collective of La
Raza Centro Legal
Service Employees International Union
Services, Immigrants Rights, and Education Network
Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and
Health
UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education
Women's Foundation of California
PQ:kc 8/18/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****