EMPLOYERS NOW MUST PAY NANNIES OVERTIME

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which requires employers to pay time-and-a-half overtime to any nanny, housekeeper, maid or personal attendant who works more than nine hours in one day or 45 hours in one week.

Normally California employees are entitled to overtime for any time they work over eight hours in one day or 40 hours in one week. Under previous California Labor laws, however, nannies and personal attendants who spent more than 80 percent of their time caring for others were exempted from California’s overtime laws. The original reasoning for this exemption was to keep costs affordable for families. However, opponents of this exemption cited employer abuse and unequal treatment of workers. The new law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2014, eliminates this exemption.

Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, the law’s author, said, “Domestic workers are primarily women of color, many of them immigrants, and their work has not been respected in the past. Now they will be entitled to overtime, like just about every other California working person.”

The bill, AB 241, is a scaled-back version of a similar bill that was vetoed last year, and would have also required meal breaks and rest periods.

If you have a wage or overtime question or issue, contact Ko/Za Law Group LLP via our Contact page.