The employment lawyers at the Genie Harrison Law Firm are committed to protecting domestic workers’ rights in California.
Domestic workers and caregivers are employees who work in a private household. They have their own special overtime rules depending on their duties, and they may be hired directly by a household or through an agency.
California Overtime Laws protect Caregivers and Domestic Workers.
Labor laws in California protect employees’ rights — and for good reason. California’s public policy requires employers to provide fair and lawful wages and to be held responsible for failing to comply with wage and hour laws because it benefits the working public and California’s economy to ensure that employees are treated fairly. California’s labor laws provide for the payment of penalties and other damages in addition to unpaid wages for proven violations.
No fees unless we win compensation for you.
The Genie Harrison Law Firm is a top-rated employment law firm that fights hard for employees who have experienced wage theft by their employers. Our contingency-based practice means that you can start getting justice now. If we take your case, our fees are paid through the settlement or a verdict at trial.
What is a “Domestic Worker” and what laws apply to them?
A domestic worker provides these services in a private home:
- Caregiver to seniors or people with disabilities
- Cook
- Gardener
- Housecleaner
- Nanny or childcare provider
- Other household workers
Domestic workers have their own special overtime rules depending on their duties and whether they are a personal attendant or non-personal attendant.
What Laws Apply to Domestic Workers?
National, state, and city laws give domestic workers legal protection. Employers must follow the law that provides workers with the most protection. Usually, that will be California (state) law, but there are some exceptions.
Right to Overtime
Working as a caregiver in a private home often involves long work hours, and employers often ignore overtime laws.
Domestic workers have their own special overtime rules depending on their duties and whether they are a personal attendant or a non-personal attendant.
California’s Domestic Worker Bill of Rights
In 2013, California passed the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. This law extends overtime pay rights to certain personal attendants working in the home who were not previously entitled to overtime pay under California law.
Personal attendants covered by this law are entitled to overtime pay and rest and meal breaks.
Overtime for Personal Attendants
- Entitled to overtime (1.5 times the regular pay rate) for any hours worked over nine (9) hours per day or over 45 hours per week.
Overtime for Non-Personal Attendants (Wage Order 15)
Live-In
- Entitled to overtime pay (1.5x) for hours worked over nine (9) in a day and for the first nine (9) hours worked on the sixth & seventh consecutive day and all hours worked over 45 hours in a week.
- Entitled to double time pay (2x) for hours worked over nine (9) hours worked on the sixth and seventh consecutive days.
Non-Live In
- Entitled to overtime pay (1.5x) for hours worked over eight (8) in a day or 40 regular hours in a workweek.
- Entitled to overtime pay (1.5x) for the first eight (8) hours on the seventh consecutive day of the workweek.
- Entitled to double time pay (2x) for hours worked over 12 daily.
- Entitled to double time pay (2x) for hours worked over eight (8) on the seventh consecutive day of the workweek.
What is a Personal Attendant?
To be classified as a “personal attendant,” under California Labor Code section 1451(d), the individual must meet three elements:
- The individual must be employed by a private householder or by any third-party employer recognized in the health care industry to work in a private household.
- The individual’s duties must be to supervise, feed, or dress a child or a person who by reason of advanced age, physical disability, or mental deficiency needs supervision.
- The individual’s non-attendant duties cannot exceed 20 percent of the total weekly hours.
Who is NOT a personal attendant?
- Family members, including parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, or child of the employer.
- Someone under the age of 18 employed as a babysitter to a minor.
- Anyone who is a “casual babysitter” (meaning someone who babysits on an irregular or intermittent basis and is not a babysitter by vocation).
- Anyone who provides services to the developmentally disabled through a state or regional center voucher program.
- Anyone who provides childcare pursuant to certain childcare acts (the Child Care and Development Services Act of the Education Code or the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
Contact Us for a Free Case Evaluation
If you are feeling that an employer is taking advantage of your long working hours and not paying overtime, please contact the employment lawyers at the Genie Harrison Law Firm to help you assess whether or not you may have a claim. If we take your case, we get paid when you get paid.