Attention New York Readers-

A new piece of legislation that would formalize a bill of rights for domestic workers in New York is currently being pushed to be placed on the agenda for the upcoming NY State Senate session.

The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights seeks to “provide the same rights to domestic workers as are provided to other workers in New York State.” Among those rights are those which, when compared to the workplace regulations that protect other workers, seem to be no-brainers. Some of the key provisions of the bill seek to provide for overtime pay after 8 hours of work per day, paid vacation, five sick days per year, five personal days per year, a required day of rest each week, and protection under New York’s employment discrimination law. Sounds pretty reasonable, no? Sadly, many domestic workers (which includes nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers) are not afforded anything close to such amenities. They suffer low-pay, uncompensated long hours, punishment for taking sick leave, and a slew of various forms of mistreatment and isolation without any of the fair labor protections afforded to other more formalized workers.

The group behind the bill is the Domestic Workers Union (DWU) which is pushing to see a vote on the measure on the symbolic date of September 10th, in honor of the upcoming Labor Day holiday. The final hurdle before a official Senate vote is to have the legislation approved to be on the agenda for the pending session which begins next month. There are four senators (Klein, Sampson, Espada, & Smith) who set the agenda. The DWU is asking supporters to contact these four along with your own state senator with the following message:

“I am a strong supporter of domestic workers rights and I have been waiting for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights #S2311 to come to the floor for a vote, in honor of Labor Day, would you please make sure to put it on the agenda for September 10.”

A brief overview of the legislation can be found here.

TakePart:

To support The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, please contact the following NY state senators to voice your hope to see the legislation be brought up for a vote on September 10th.

Senator Jeff Klein - Bronx, Yonkers, Mt Vernon & Westchester
District Office - 718-822-2049
Albany Office - 518-455-3595

Senator John Sampson - Brooklyn
District Office - 718-649-7653
Albany Office - 518-455-2788

Senator Pedro Espada - Bronx
District Office - 718-220-5480
Albany Office - 518-455-3395

Senator Malcolm Smith - Queens
District Office - 718-528-4290
Albany Office - 518-455-2701
Manhattan - 212-298-5585