The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights will reform New York State law to guarantee basic work standards and protections for the nannies, caregivers, and housekeepers who keep New York families functioning and make all other work possible. The Bill of Rights is a comprehensive response to domestic workers’ vulnerability to abuse and mistreatment, and works to counter domestic workers’ exclusion from most labor protections.

The provisions in the Bill of Rights were generated by DWU members, who gathered together in 2004 to envision what fair labor standards for domestic workers in New York would look like. Domestic workers often confront a lawless working environment where low pay, long hours, no health care or sick leave, and arbitrary treatment are the norm. Working in the isolation of private homes, behind closed doors, an epidemic of physical and mental abuse plagues the domestic work industry. The Bill will ensure domestic workers are provided a limited number of paid sick days, personal days, and vacation days; notice and severance pay; yearly raises tied to inflation; full overtime pay for any work over 40 hours per week; one day of rest per week; protection from employment discrimination; and health benefits.

For more information on the Bill of Rights:

Assembly and Senate sponsors

Information on the bill

Statistics on domestic workers in New York State.

Voices of domestic workers; Testimony from the New York State Assembly hearing held November 2008.

DWU is a resource and support for workers who have suffered abuse or violations of their rights on the job. We conduct referrals, provide direct advocacy with employers, organize public support and offer legal services for DWU members. We currently represent domestic workers in their cases to win justice for their suffering and have won over $300,000.00 in unpaid wages for domestic workers since 2000. For more information, contact the DWU office at (718) 220-7391 x 11 or 23.

The following are testimonies of domestic workers submitted for the Domestic Workers Human Rights Tribunal, held in New York City, October 8, 2005:

Ms. L: "When the amount of money that my employer owed me accumulated, she started to humiliate me. After a while, she would say that I did not speak English, and that I did not deserve the salary that she was supposed to pay me. Many times around 11:00 o'clock at night, she would wake me up and she would ask me to clean the floor with Clorox Bleach, saying that the house was dirty and that I had to clean it. I had to buy food for me, for her son, and for the dog because she would not give any money for the groceries. With the little money that she randomly paid me, I was able to do that."

Ms. E: "I used to sleep on the floor in the corner of the living room. I was only given 1 blanket, 1 comforter, and 1 pillow. In the summertime, it would get so hot, but I was denied to use the AC because the electricity bill would go up. It wasn't comfortable at all. In the wintertime, it would get so cold. And I would try to sleep with warm clothes because I had one comforter. The conditions were terrifying and humiliating."

Ms. T: "We are verbally assaulted and we have to stay quiet. Often we end up leaving these jobs when we can't take it anymore. What is sad and difficult is that sometimes we are not paid a single penny for the work we've done. In my case, I have had good, considerate employers but in these years I have also experienced difficulties, which I never thought I would have to endure - discrimination because of the color of my skin and for being an immigrant. They've made me sleep in a basement with no heat in the dead of winter. They've denied me food during the time I was living in and also forbid me to bring food for myself from outside. I've also been yelled out to the point where I was becoming sick with depression and nervousness. I left my last job so exhausted and destroyed I could only think of hurling myself in front of passing cars because I was made to feel so bad I wanted to die. I felt worse than a worm after the way they told me how poor I was and that's why I was worth nothing."