Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: There are an estimated 2,200,000 domestic workers across the United States working in private homes to provide home and personal care, child care, and house-cleaning services. 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 workers caring for children, seniors, and people with disabilities, and cleaning homes, much of the economy would come to a standstill.
During the COVID–19 pandemic, domestic work and other low-wage service jobs, disproportionately held by women, women of color, and immigrants, have been deemed essential. This crisis has shown how essential these jobs have always been to our economy. At great risk to the health of themselves and their families, domestic workers have worked on the frontlines of the pandemic to provide care to those more vulnerable to COVID–19, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, and have provided child care for the children of essential workers.
A study of Black immigrant domestic workers conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies and the National Domestic Workers Alliance in May and June of 2020 found that 25 percent of workers surveyed experienced or lived with someone who has experienced COVID–19 symptoms. 73 percent of such workers surveyed indicated that they did not received personal protective equipment ( PPE ) from their employers. Domestic workers experienced a rapid and sustained loss of jobs during the COVID–19 pandemic, which exacerbated the existing financial insecurity experienced by many domestic workers.
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 workers surveyed were unable to pay their rent or mortgage. Nearly ¾ of workers surveyed did not receive any compensation when their jobs were canceled. 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) ).
Domestic workers 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. In 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that between 2019 and 2029— the number of new jobs for home health and personal care aides will increase by 34 percent, which is an increase of 1,159,500 jobs and the largest increase in new jobs of any occupational category during such period; and the number of new jobs for child care and house cleaning positions will increase by 6 to 7 percent.
The COVID–19 pandemic has increased the demand for in-home child care. According to the Center for Translational Neuroscience, 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. An increasing number of workers, including domestic workers, are finding work on online platforms. An analysis from the JPMorgan Chase Institute found that between 2013 and 2018, the percentage of adults that had earned income from online platforms increased from 0.3 percent to 1.5 percent. 9 out of 10 domestic workers 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 workers also tend to be older than other workers. 2 in 5 domestic workers are age 50 or older, while just 1/3 of all other workers are at least 50 years old. Domestic workers 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 worker is approximately $12 per hour or $15,980 per year if working full-time.
In practice, the average wage for a domestic worker is less than such approximation given that domestic work has largely been negotiated in the informal labor market. Low-wage workers, including domestic workers, 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 workers—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. A landmark study of domestic workers published in 2012 by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois at Chicago Data Center titled Home Economics: The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work indicated poor working conditions across the domestic workers industry.
The findings of such study included that— domestic workers have little control over their working conditions, and employment is usually arranged without a written contract; 35 percent of domestic workers interviewed reported that they worked long hours without breaks in the year immediately preceding the interview; 25 percent of live-in domestic workers had responsibilities that prevented them from getting at least 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night during the week immediately preceding the interview; and 91 percent of domestic workers 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.
The study described in paragraph
(13)found that domestic workers have little access to federally supported employment benefits. For instance— less than 2 percent of such workers receive retirement or pension benefits, and less than 9 percent of such workers work for employers that collect payroll taxes on wages paid to such workers to provide eligibility for Social Security benefits; and 65 percent of such workers do not have health insurance, and only 4 percent of such workers receive employer-provided insurance, despite the fact that domestic work is hazardous and often results in illness or physical injuries. Compounding these challenges is the fact that many domestic workers have been, and in many cases continue to be, excluded from key provisions of labor and employment laws like the Occupational Health and Safety 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 workers employed by private households remain excluded from the overtime protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. ). Minimum employee threshold rules, misclassification of domestic workers as independent contractors, and exclusion of independent contractors from coverage mean that most domestic workers 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. The International Labour Organization’s Domestic Workers Convention, adopted in 2011, calls for domestic workers 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 workers 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. The unique nature of their work, in private homes with individuals and families, also often makes it difficult for domestic workers to use Federal programs and policies to improve their skills and training and to join together collectively to negotiate better pay and working conditions. Many domestic workers are also vulnerable to discrimination and sexual harassment. These issues are further exacerbated by the unique working conditions faced by domestic workers, 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. Millions of older individuals, individuals with disabilities, and families are increasingly relying on domestic workers. By bringing domestic work out of the shadows and creating incentives and investments that help raise wages and standards for domestic workers, the Federal Government can lift millions of the most vulnerable workers out of poverty, reduce turnover due to poor working conditions, thereby enhancing quality of care, and support the millions of working and retired people of the United States who rely on them.
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- 29 USC 2000e
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