California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights Enacted

Governor Jerry Brown signed the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (AB241) today, making California the third state in the nation to pass such a bill; New York passed theirs in 2010, and Hawaii’s passed earlier this year. The bill grants overtime protections to domestic workers in private homes in California. Domestic workers are defined as caregivers and child care providers who spend a significant amount of time caring for children, elderly, or people with disabilities, or those performing household occupations, such as housekeepers and maids.

AB 241 provides overtime protection to personal attendants as follows: one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked over nine hours in any workday, and for all hours worked more than 45 hours in the workweek. New federal regulations, issued last week that take effect in 2015, require overtime pay after 40 hours in a workweek, rather than 45. This rule will supplement California’s law and require overtime pay after 40 hours for California domestic workers beginning in 2015.

The bill also provides that domestic workers receive at least the minimum wage, which in California is currently $8 an hour and scheduled to rise to $10 by 2016. A federal rule change last week required minimum wage and overtime for home healthcare workers across the country, but this California bill extends protections to in-home child care workers, who are not included in the federal ruling.

This bill has some slight differences from the bill that was passed by the Assembly and vetoed by Governor Brown last year. This version was amended to exclude daily meal and rest break provisions, uninterrupted sleep requirements, and to exempt occasional babysitters from overtime requirements. It also includes a three-year “sunset” provision, which means the governor will set up a committee to review the success of the bill, and lawmakers will have three years to make it permanent.

For more information, please read the CA Assembly Fact Sheet or contact GTM’s Household Employment Experts.