Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act
This bill provides rights and protections for domestic workers, including pay and leave rights, and health and safety protections.
The bill, among other things
repeals the exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for domestic live-in employees from certain minimum wage and maximum hour requirements;
requires written notices of termination and allow other communications for live-in domestic employees;
requires written agreements for domestic workers covering wages, sick leave, benefits, and other matters;
allows domestic workers to request and receive changes to work schedules due to personal events;
sets forth certain privacy rights for domestic workers;
expands coverage to domestic workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against discrimination in employment; and
increases the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for certain Medicaid-funded medical services provided by domestic workers.
The Department of Labor shall (1) award grants for a domestic worker national hotline for reporting emergencies, training on hazards facing domestic workers, and workforce investment activities for domestic workers; and (2) establish a Domestic Worker Wage and Standards Board to investigate standards in the domestic workers industry.
Labor must provide domestic workers with a document that describes the rights and protections under the domestic workers bill of rights.
The Department of Health and Human Services must collect state Medicaid program data on the personal or home care aide workforce.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 15, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 15, 2019: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced it on July 15, 2019, and 12 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 11 Democrats, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 15, 2019, 2614 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2614 days ago, on July 15, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers