It may soon be illegal to keep your babysitter longer than two hours without a rest break if Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF)’s bill wins state approval.
Ammiano’s bill requires worker’s protection for domestic laborers such as babysitters, nannies or maids. Employers would have to provide workers’ compensation benefits, overtime pay, meal breaks, paid vacation time and rest breaks every two hours.
The bill has already passed in the Assembly and has support from the Senate.
Under existing law, domestic workers are excluded from these provisions, which also require employers to comply with certain safety regulations as well.
Among the bill’s provisions, live-in nannies must be given eight hours of “uninterrupted sleep,” except in an emergency. The worker would also be allowed to choose the food he or she eats. As for the Friday-night babysitter – parents would be required to pay them at least minimum wage, and provide a substitute caregiver every two hours so that the babysitter can take breaks.
The Senate’s analysis of the bill estimates that there are about 200,000 domestic work employees in California that would be affected by the bill. They cited a report, which found that child care workers, garment workers, maids and housekeepers had high rates of minimum wage violations.
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