California may soon be the first state in the U.S. to cover domestic workers such as housekeepers, nannies and other household staff under OSHA safety standards.
State safety agency Cal/OSHA and federal OSHA both exclude domestic workers from the protections of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Legislators in California want to change that, voting Sept. 14, 2023 to approve bill SB 686 “to make the state the first in the nation to include housekeepers, nannies and other household staff in laws requiring health and safety protections,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Governor vetoed similar bill in 2020
Now SB 686 will go to Governor Gavin Newsom, who vetoed a similar bill in 2020. At the time, Newsom agreed that domestic workers deserved workplace protections, but felt that private households shouldn’t be regulated by the state in the same way that businesses are.
The Los Angeles Times pointed out that Newsom “paid $288,000 in wages to household staff in 2019, according to his publicly released tax records.”
SB 686 would remove the 50-year-old exclusion of domestic workers from Cal/OSHA coverage, requiring anyone with household staff to comply with state mandates on injury prevention beginning in 2025.
‘85% of domestic workers experience musculoskeletal injuries’
A 2020 report by the UCLA Labor and Occupational Safety and Health program “found that 85% of domestic workers surveyed experienced musculoskeletal injuries, and that many injuries common in the workforce could be avoided with regulatory protections such as use of proper equipment including long-handled tools to limit bending and reaching.”
When Newsom vetoed the 2020 proposal, he cited “significant liability and privacy concerns for 11 million homeowners and renters who would be subject to a slew of new employer rules regardless of their workplace safety expertise.”
Newsom said the original proposal was unworkable but said that he would continue to discuss the issue with domestic worker representatives. That led to legislation in 2021 that required Cal/OSHA to create an advisory committee to develop recommendation for home settings.
The committee included employers, workers, advocates and health and safety experts who recommended that the state put an end to the exclusion, which led to the latest proposal.
Bill has ‘long list of supporters, no official opposition’
Proponents of the bill claim that Newsom’s concerns have been resolved with an “informal approach” that involves contacting domestic worker employers by phone and mail as a first warning to avoid privacy concerns.
SB 686 has “a long list of supporters … and no official opposition,” the Los Angeles Times points out.
