Seattle Considers a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

Roselyn Miller wrote on the Better Life Lab Blog on Slate on Seattle's proposal for one of the most progressive versions of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

Due to a long history of exclusion from labor protections and social marginalization, domestic workers have been one of the most isolated and vulnerable classes of workers in the United States. Now, Seattle is considering a plan to establish basic labor protections and a local standards board specifically for people who work within their employers’ households, often as caretakers or cleaners.

The proposed legislation before Seattle City Council, a domestic workers bill of rights, would protect domestic workers’ rights to a minimum wage, rights to breaks, and rights to protect their private property while on the job, regardless of contract type or employment status. The bill of rights would also create a standards board where workers, employers, government employees, and community stakeholders could come together, set, and enforce locally informed standards for employing domestic workers with legal ramifications. The Seattle Domestic Workers Alliance surveyed local domestic workers and found that more than half did not have written contracts, leaving them particularly susceptible to workplace violations.