California's Year of the Nanny

• We pay our Nanny $20/hr for 4 hrs a day. We now would have to find a 2nd nanny to watch our child while this first one takes a break - for 15 minutes. You know what? We're going to have to fire our first nanny. Simple as that. We don't have any other family members to help take care of our child and it's patently absurd to find a substitute for 15 minutes.  CA is being flushed down the toilet by it's own lack of fiscal discipline, and the legislature is worried about whether the toilet was installed by a licensed contractor.

• This story is obviously written by someone who does NOT fully understand the industry, or who has researched the current law.  Basically, there are two major negative issues with AB889. 1) 98% of these "rights" already exist in California - making this mostly about POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING, and 2) it makes a gross assumption that personal attendants are domestic workers.  Personal attendants are NOT domestic workers, they are HEALTHCARE workers. Healthcare workers from assistants, to therapists, to nurses, to physicians cannot and should not be put into a square box. A patient's personal health and welfare knows no time-clock! If passed, this bill will devastate our senior population's healthcare options.  What a mess.

• California Wage Order 15 and other CA wage and labor laws  ALREADY and have for over 20 years given housekeepers, nannies, all domestic workers basic protections of minimum wage, overtime, 5 day work weeks, mandatory sleep time of 12 hours not the 8 proposed in AB889. Current law gives nannies and caregivers PAID ON DUTY BREAKS ..  this bill if passed requires OFF DUTY BREAKS which means the nanny or caregiver MUST ABANDON the children or disabled senior in order for the employer to comply with the new law if passed. Would you hire a 2nd nanny to give breaks??? If your a nanny employer do you want to be fined thousands of dollars and sued for not allowing your nanny to abandon your children. This is the proposed law in AB889. Also this bill states that you have to allow a domestic worker to cook ANYTHING in your kitchen if they have worked in your home or you will be fined up to $39,0000. This will go into law so if you have a 5 day a week houseeper who work s 5 days a week 6 hours a day for 3 years you must have allowed that housekeeper to cook whatever for how long they want or be sued and fined $39,000.  This will become law. Housekeepers are entitled to overtime now. Housekeepers in San Francisco make $25 to $35 an hour.  The collectiva advertises their housekeepers for $27 an hour CASH.. mmmm I thought we all were required to PAY TAXES...  these are the same people who demand social security and medicare but only want to be paid CASH... no trail for taxes. This bill is not at all like the New York Bill.  Assemblymember Ammiano has refused to meet with San Francisco residents and business's that oppose this bill.  This bill hurts domestic workers and employers who it is suppossed to help.  Any domestic worker documented or undocumented can go to the labor board, file a complaint and they will be awarded missing wages if they have not received minimum wage or overtime or paid on duty breaks. The labor board does not report undocumented workers. Lets talk about what this bill really is.. It is a bill for unionization of individual domestic workers and this is stated by the Sponsors themselves.

• I’d like to clarify an important point from your article.    Your article says “The bill would give in-house workers like housekeepers and, yes, nannies, basic labor protections like overtime pay, guaranteed sleeping time, five-day work weeks, as well as meal and rest breaks.”   That’s not entirely true.  Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, all domestic workers, except those providing companionship care, are already entitled to minimum wage.  Live-out workers are already entitled to overtime pay in every state.    As far as overtime for live-in workers, CA domestic workers already have that protection.  Kathy Webb, President of 4NannyTaxes says, “Interestingly, all three states who extend overtime coverage to live in domestics have done so prior to any legislation such as the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. I have worked in the field since 1993 and the New York and Maryland provisions existed at that time. California’s Wage Order 15 extended coverage in 2001.”   I think it’s important for the facts about the labor protection domestic workers already have to be accurately represented so the debate can focus on the other issues in the bill.   Lora Brawley http://nannybizreviews.com

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