[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4552 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4552
To enhance the rights of domestic employees, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 13, 2024
Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself, Mr. Lujan, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Blumenthal,
Ms. Butler, Mr. Casey, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Fetterman, Mr.
Kaine, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren,
and Mr. Welch) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To enhance the rights of domestic employees, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Domestic Workers
Bill of Rights Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Rulemaking authority.
Sec. 5. Rule of construction.
TITLE I--DOMESTIC EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS
Subtitle A--Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
Sec. 101. Overtime protections for live-in domestic employees.
Sec. 102. Live-in domestic employees termination notices and
communications.
Sec. 103. Enforcement.
Subtitle B--Domestic Employee Rights
Sec. 110. Written agreements.
Sec. 111. Earned sick days.
Sec. 112. Fair scheduling practices.
Sec. 113. Right to request and receive temporary changes to scheduled
work hours due to personal events.
Sec. 114. Privacy.
Sec. 115. Breaks for meals and rest.
Sec. 116. Unfair wage deductions for cash shortages, breakages, loss,
or modes of communication.
Sec. 117. Prohibited acts.
Sec. 118. Enforcement authority.
Sec. 119. Effect on existing employment benefits and other laws.
Subtitle C--Amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Sec. 131. Including certain domestic employees in civil rights
protections against discrimination in
employment.
TITLE II--STANDARDS BOARD AND BENEFITS
Sec. 201. Domestic Employee Standards Board.
Sec. 202. Domestic employees' benefits study.
TITLE III--IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DOMESTIC WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
Sec. 301. Definitions.
Sec. 302. Notice of domestic employee rights.
Sec. 303. Interagency task force on domestic workers bill of rights
enforcement.
Sec. 304. National Domestic Employee Hotline.
Sec. 305. National grant for community-based education, outreach, and
enforcement of domestic employee rights.
Sec. 306. Encouraging the use of fiscal intermediaries.
Sec. 307. Application to domestic employees who provide Medicaid-funded
services.
Sec. 308. Delayed enforcement for government-funded programs.
TITLE IV--FUNDING
Sec. 401. Temporary increase in the Federal medical assistance
percentage for Medicaid-funded services
provided by domestic employees.
Sec. 402. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE V--SEVERABILITY
Sec. 501. Severability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) There are an estimated 2,200,000 domestic employees
across the United States working in private homes to provide
direct care, child care, and house-cleaning services.
(2) Domestic work is a job-enabling job that makes all
other work possible. It is labor that cannot be outsourced to
individuals abroad, nor is it close to being automated. Without
the millions of domestic employees caring for children,
seniors, and people with disabilities, and cleaning homes, much
of the economy would come to a standstill.
(3) During the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic work and other
low-wage service jobs, disproportionately held by women, women
of color, and immigrants, were deemed essential. This crisis
showed how essential these jobs have always been to our
economy. At great risk to the health of themselves and their
families, domestic employees worked on the frontlines of the
pandemic to provide care to those more vulnerable to COVID-19,
seniors, and individuals with disabilities, and provided child
care for the children of essential workers and other workers. A
study of Black immigrant domestic employees conducted by the
Institute for Policy Studies and the National Domestic Workers
Alliance in May and June of 2020 found that 25 percent of
employees surveyed experienced or lived with someone who had
experienced COVID-19 symptoms. Seventy-three percent of such
employees surveyed indicated that they did not receive personal
protective equipment (``PPE'') from their employers.
(4) Domestic employees experienced a rapid and sustained
loss of jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated
the existing financial insecurity experienced by many domestic
employees. Surveys from the National Domestic Workers Alliance
and NDWA Labs between March and September 2020 found that for 6
consecutive months, more than half of domestic employees
surveyed were unable to pay their rent or mortgage. Nearly 75
percent of employees surveyed did not receive any compensation
when their jobs were canceled.
(5) The employment of individuals in domestic service in
households affects commerce, as described in section 2(a) of
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 202(a)), and
thus many domestic employees are employees covered under the
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Moreover, domestic services
provided by any domestic employee for an employer affect
commerce.
(6) Domestic employees are hired or contacted for work by
phone, mail, or internet, or through newspaper ads, and travel
to work through transportation on interstate highways,
interstate transit, or vehicles in interstate commerce.
(7) In 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that
between 2021 and 2031--
(A) the number of new jobs for home health and
personal care aides will increase by 25 percent, which
is an increase of 711,700 jobs; and
(B) the number of new jobs for child care positions
will increase by 6 percent.
(8) The COVID-19 pandemic increased the demand for in-home
child care. According to the Center for Translational
Neuroscience at the University of Oregon, the percentage of
parents reporting use of home-based child care has grown since
the onset of the pandemic from 27 percent to 31 percent by
September 2021.
(9) An increasing number of employees, including domestic
employees, are finding work on online platforms. An analysis
from the JPMorgan Chase Institute found that between 2013 and
2020, the percentage of adults that had earned income from
online platforms increased from 0.3 percent to 2.5 percent.
(10) Nine out of 10 domestic employees are women and such
women are disproportionately people of color and immigrants.
Women, people of color, and immigrants have historically faced
barriers to employment and economic advancement. According to
the Economic Policy Institute, domestic employees also tend to
be older than other employees. Two in 5 domestic employees are
age 50 or older, while just \1/3\ of all other employees are at
least 50 years old.
(11) Domestic employees are paid low wages, can be
subjected to workplace health and safety hazards, and face
difficulties saving for retirement. An Economic Policy
Institute analysis of data from the Current Population Survey
indicates that the average wage for a domestic employee is
approximately $13.79 per hour or $18,360 per year if working
full-time. In practice, the average wage for a domestic
employee is less than such approximation given that domestic
work has largely been negotiated in the informal labor market.
(12) Low-wage employees, including domestic employees,
experience high rates of minimum wage and overtime violations,
violations of laws related to workers' compensation and other
workplace benefits, and illegal retaliation. A 2017 study from
the Economic Policy Institute found that 2,400,000 employees,
17 percent of the low-wage workforce, experiences wage theft. A
2009 report from the National Employment Law Project found that
employment in private homes was one of the 3 industries with
the highest rates of employment and labor law violations.
(13) A landmark study of domestic employees published in
2012 by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Center for
Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois at
Chicago, and DataCenter titled ``Home Economics: The Invisible
and Unregulated World of Domestic Work'' indicated poor working
conditions across the domestic employees industry. The findings
of such study included that--
(A) domestic employees have little control over
their working conditions and employment is usually
arranged without a written contract;
(B) 35 percent of domestic employees interviewed
reported that they worked long hours without breaks in
the year immediately preceding the interview;
(C) 25 percent of live-in domestic employees had
responsibilities that prevented them from getting at
least 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night during
the week immediately preceding the interview; and
(D) 91 percent of domestic employees interviewed
who encountered problems with their working conditions
in the year immediately preceding the interview did not
complain about their working conditions because they
were afraid they would lose their job.
(14) The study described in paragraph (13) found that
domestic employees have little access to federally supported
employment benefits. For instance--
(A) less than 2 percent of such employees receive
retirement or pension benefits, and less than 9 percent
of such employees work for employers that collect
payroll taxes on wages paid to such employees to
provide eligibility for Social Security disability and
retirement benefits; and
(B) 65 percent of such employees do not have health
insurance and only 4 percent of such employees receive
employer-provided insurance, despite the fact that
domestic work is hazardous and often results in illness
or physical injuries.
(15) Compounding these challenges is the fact that many
domestic employees have been, and in many cases continue to be,
excluded from key provisions of labor and employment laws like
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651
et seq.) and the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et
seq.). Live-in domestic employees solely employed by private
households remain excluded from the overtime protections under
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).
Minimum employee threshold rules, misclassification of domestic
employees as independent contractors, and exclusion of
independent contractors from coverage mean that most domestic
employees are also de facto excluded from Federal civil rights
protections, including protections under title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (29 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) and other laws.
(16) The International Labour Organization's Domestic
Workers Convention, adopted in 2011, calls for domestic
employees to have the right to freedom of association and
collective actions, protections against harassment, privacy
rights, and the right to be informed of conditions of
employment. This Convention also calls for the right of
domestic employees to keep their travel documents, the right to
overtime compensation and rest breaks, the right to minimum
wage coverage, the right to occupational safety and health
protections, and mechanisms to pursue complaints and ensure
compliance with the law.
(17) The unique nature of their work, in private homes with
individuals and families, also often makes it difficult for
domestic employees to use Federal programs and policies to
improve their skills and training and to join together
collectively to negotiate better pay and working conditions.
(18) Many domestic employees are also vulnerable to
discrimination and sexual harassment. These issues are further
exacerbated by the unique working conditions faced by domestic
employees, such as isolation, poverty, immigration status, the
lack of familiarity with the law and legal processes, limited
networks for support, language barriers, and fear of
retaliation and deportation.
(19) Millions of older individuals, individuals with
disabilities, and families are increasingly relying on domestic
employees. Transforming domestic work jobs into good jobs with
family sustaining wages and access to benefits can reduce high
turnover due to poor working conditions, thereby enhancing
quality of care, and supporting the millions of working and
retired people of the United States who rely on them.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(a) Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) Commerce; employ; employee; goods; person; state.--The
terms ``commerce'', ``employ'', ``employee'', ``employer'',
``enterprise'', ``enterprise engaged in commerce or in the
production of goods for commerce'', ``goods'', ``person'', and
``State'' have the meanings given such terms in section 3 of
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203).
(2) Regular rate.--The term ``regular rate'' has the
meaning given such term in section 7(e) of such Act (29 U.S.C.
207(e)).
(b) Other Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) Child.--The term ``child''--
(A) means an individual who is under 18 years of
age; and
(B) includes an individual described in
subparagraph (A) who is--
(i) a biological, foster, or adopted child;
(ii) a stepchild;
(iii) a child of a domestic partner;
(iv) a legal ward; or
(v) a child of a person standing in loco
parentis.
(2) Disability.--The term ``disability'' has the meaning
given the term in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102).
(3) Domestic partner.--
(A) In general.--The term ``domestic partner'',
with respect to an individual, means another individual
with whom the individual is in a committed
relationship.
(B) Committed relationship defined.--The term
``committed relationship'' for purposes of subparagraph
(A)--
(i) means a relationship between 2
individuals, each at least 18 years of age, in
which both individuals share responsibility for
a significant measure of each other's common
welfare; and
(ii) includes any such relationship between
2 individuals, including individuals of the
same sex, that is granted legal recognition by
a State or political subdivision of a State as
a marriage or analogous relationship, including
a civil union or domestic partnership.
(4) Domestic services.--The term ``domestic services''--
(A) means services--
(i) of a household nature; and
(ii) performed by an individual in or about
a private home (permanent or temporary); and
(B) includes services performed by individuals such
as companions, babysitters, cooks, waiters, butlers,
valets, maids, housekeepers, nannies, nurses, janitors,
laundresses, caretakers, handymen, gardeners, home
health aides, personal care aides or assistants, and
chauffeurs of automobiles for family use.
(5) Domestic employee.--The term ``domestic employee''--
(A) means, except as provided in subparagraph (B),
an employee who is employed by an employer for the
performance of domestic services; and
(B) does not include--
(i) any individual who is a family member,
friend, neighbor, or parent of a child and who
provides child care for the child in the
child's home;
(ii) any individual who is--
(I) an employee of a family child
care provider; or
(II) a family child care provider;
and
(iii) any individual who is an employee
described in section 13(a)(15) of the Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
213(a)(15)).
(6) Family child care provider.--The term ``family child
care provider'' means 1 or more individuals who provide child
care services, in a private residence other than the residence
of the child receiving the services, for fewer than 24 hours
per day for the child (unless the nature of the work of the
parent of the child requires 24-hour care).
(7) Me