Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified. Under existing law, employment related to household domestic service is excluded from the provisions of the act.
This bill would remove the exclusion for household domestic service from these occupational safety provisions.
Existing law authorizes the Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations (chief) and all qualified and authorized division inspectors and investigators to have free access to any place of employment to make an investigation or inspection during regular working hours, and at other reasonable times when necessary, for the protection of safety and health.
This bill would, when the workplace is a residential dwelling, require the chief or their representative to contact the employer in response to an alleged violation received from a domestic service employee within a specified timeframe, depending upon whether the reported violation is considered a serious violation. The bill would require the chief or their representative to provide specified notice to the employer about the alleged violation and to investigate the violation, as specified. The bill would require the employer to provide specified information to the division regarding mitigation efforts to correct the violation and to provide copies of all correspondence received from the division to the domestic service employee.

Statutes affected:
SB 1257: 6303 LAB, 6314 LAB, 1455 LAB
02/21/20 - Introduced: 1455 LAB
03/26/20 - Amended Senate: 6303 LAB, 6314 LAB, 1455 LAB
SB1257: 1455 LAB