With many domestic workers living on poverty-level wages and
facing substandard working conditions, the U.S. “must enact and
enforce policies that rectify the exclusion of domestic workers
from employment and labor laws,” according to a study released
last week. This means giving domestic workers rights that are
standard in other industries, including the right to organize,
earn minimum wage, get paid for overtime, receive unemployment
insurance and have a guaranteed, standard number of hours of
uninterrupted sleep, the study said. Twenty-three percent of all
domestic workers in the United States and 67 percent of live-in
workers, including nannies, housecleaners, and elder caregivers,
earn less than minimum wage. In most cases, domestic workers are
not subject to minimum wage laws. Most domestic workers also are
excluded from antidiscrimination, workers’ compensation and
other labor laws, leaving them vulnerable to wage theft, unsafe
working conditions, and long hours that often interfere with
raising their