Domestic workers
It is time we extend job, wage and safety protections to those who labor in our homes.
As the Getty Fire bellowed over an affluent part of Los Angeles last month, belching black smoke and turning the skies a hellish red, dozens of housekeepers and nannies trudged up hills, headed to work in multimillion-dollar homes.
Their employers had fled, seeking safety far from the danger zone. But many domestic workers still reported to their jobs for fear of being fired or losing a day’s wages. Others were unaware of a mandatory evacuation order.
In many cases, noted Los Angeles Times reporter Brittny Mejia, the bosses had simply forgotten to warn their employees of the encroaching fire — and the workers took the silence to mean that they were expected to clock in.
The situation — while extreme — illustrates a fact of life for many domestic workers: The housekeepers, nannies and caregivers who provide vital services for families and whose labor helps fuel the nation’s economic engine are often forgotten.
Many are underpaid and overworked, putting in long hours without overtime pay or benefits. They face sexual harassment, discrimination and wage theft, are subject to unjust firing and contend with conditions that pose health and safety risks. And they work in jobs that aren’t covered by state and federal protections most other professions take for granted.
The National Labor Relations Act, for example, prohibits domestic workers — defined as someone performing a service in a private home — from forming unions and collective bargaining. Livein domestic workers are excluded from the overtime protection in the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act doesn’t cover “individuals who, in their own residences, privately employ persons for the purpose of performing … what are commonly regarded as ordinary domestic household tasks, such as house cleaning, cooking, and caring for children.”
Today, domestic workers — who number more than 2 million nationwide — are mostly low-income women of color, primarily immigrant and often undocumented, according to a report from the National Domestic Worker Alliance. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted about 19,000 maids and housekeepers in the Houston metro area in May 2017, but that number only includes workers employed by an agency.
It is a population especially vulnerable to exploitation and often afraid to report the abuses to authorities and government agencies.
That’s why gatherings such as a domestic worker conference organized by Houston’s Fe y Justicia Worker Center are so important. The second annual event, which takes place this Saturday at the Dominican Sisters of Houston’s campus, offers legal clinics, know-yourrights sessions and information on human trafficking. Moreover, it gives the workers — who often work alone — a chance to meet peers and form support networks.
So often, Fe y Justicia’s Jessica Lorena Rangel told the editorial board, that isolation enables exploitation. In one case involving a Houston live-in housekeeper and nanny, the worker routinely worked 100-hourweeks, toiling seven days a week, from early morning to late in the night. No overtime. No lunch break. No bathroom break.
Workers in that situation have no time to look for another employment, no contact with other workers who might pass on resources and no place to live if they lose their jobs.
But there are signs of change. A domestic workers rights movement is picking up steam across the country. Nine states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Oregon — have passed domestic worker bill of rights, as has Seattle. The Philadelphia City Council also recently approved a measure granting legal protection to domestic workers.
On the federal level, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal have introduced the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act, the first national legislation guaranteeing domestic workers protections such as paid sick days, overtime pay, meal and bathroom breaks, a written employment contract and harassment and discrimination protection. Four Texans, including. Rep. Sylvia Garcia. D-Houston, are cosponsors of the House bill.
Local advocates such as Fe y Justicia play a pivotal role in helping workers recover lost wages and seek redress for discrimination and abuse, but federal legislation is necessary and we urge Congress to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act.
Those protections are badly needed — and long overdue. We rely on domestic workers to clean our homes and offices, to look after our children, to care for the country’s growing elderly population — and we owe it to them to make sure they get the same legal rights as other workers.