H.R. 3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act

Domestic work sits outside much of the federal labor framework. The bill's findings note that live-in domestic employees are excluded from Fair Labor Standards Act overtime, and that minimum-employee thresholds and independent-contractor classification keep most domestic employees outside federal civil rights protections too. H.R. 3971 changes both.

The overtime fix is the shortest provision in the bill: it repeals the exemption outright. Live-in workers would be owed overtime like other hourly employees. The civil rights fix is nearly as short — it adds "a person who employs a domestic employee" to the definition of employer in the Civil Rights Act. A household that employs one nanny would become a covered employer under the federal job discrimination law, which today generally reaches only employers with 15 or more workers.

Most of the rest of the bill is about putting informal arrangements in writing. Anyone expected to work at least 8 hours a week would get a signed agreement within 5 days of hire — 180 days for workers already on the job — written in plain language and in a language both sides actually understand. It has to state the hourly rate, the overtime rate, the payday, the duties, the schedule, break times, and paid time off.

Three timing rules follow from that agreement, each taking effect 2 years after enactment. Workers earn 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, capped at 56 hours a year. Schedule changes need 72 hours' written notice, and a late cancellation owes the worker half their regular rate for the hours lost — full rate if they already showed up. Employers can't require more than 5 hours of work without a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break.

For live-in workers, the bill separates the job from the housing. An employer ending the job has to give written notice within 48 hours and then either 30 days of lodging or severance equal to 2 weeks of average earnings, with at least 48 hours to move out. Being fired would no longer mean losing the bed the same night. Skipping the severance makes an employer liable for that amount plus an equal amount again.

The privacy provisions ban monitoring or recording a worker in restrooms, bathing facilities, and private living quarters, and protect reasonable access to a phone or internet — a violation of the communication rule carries a civil penalty of up to $2,000 each. Separate provisions bar wage deductions for cash shortages, breakage, and lost equipment, and make retaliation against a worker who asserts these rights unlawful.

Two titles handle the plumbing. An 11-member Domestic Employee Standards Board — 5 worker representatives, 5 employer representatives, and 1 outside expert — would study conditions and recommend standards to the Labor Secretary. Labor and HHS would jointly write rules applying these protections to Medicaid-funded personal care aides, and states would get a temporary bump in their federal Medicaid match for 20 quarters to absorb the cost. The bill also funds a national hotline, a rights website, an interagency enforcement task force, and community outreach grants.