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The New York-based National Domestic Workers Alliance is working state by state to gain basic labor protections for domestic workers. Oregon this year became the fifth state to pass such a bill and Gov. Kate Brown signed it into law Wednesday, June 17, 2015.

(National Domestic Workers Alliance)

Nannies, housekeepers and home cleaners gained new workplace protections this week when Gov. Kate Brown signed the Oregon Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights into law.

The governor signed Senate Bill 552 on Wednesday extending provisions for overtime pay, rest periods, paid personal time off and protections against sexual harassment and retaliation to an estimated 10,000 domestic workers in Oregon.

The measure passed the Senate in late April and the House in early June, making Oregon the fifth state to offer basic protections to a class of workers who historically have been excluded from federal and state labor laws.

Since 2010, New York, California, Hawaii and Massachusetts, working with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, have passed laws guaranteeing similar rights.

Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, chief sponsor of the Oregon bill, said it was the right thing to do, noting that 95 percent of domestic workers are women and many are immigrants and many are people of color. A similar bill passed the Oregon House two years ago but stalled in the Senate, she said.

New labor protections

The Oregon Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights requires, among other things:

Overtime pay at 1 1/2 times the worker's base rate for more than 40 hours worked or 44 hours if the worker lives in the employer's home.

One day off each work week.

Eight hours of consecutive rest in a 24-hour period.

The right to cook their own food.

Three personal leave days off.

Protection against harassment.

Rights to meal and rest periods, to be determined by BOLI.

The bill does not cover home care workers who provide services to seniors and persons with disabilities; casual babysitters; independent contractors; the employer's parent, spouse or child under 26 years old.

Source: National Domestic Workers Alliance

"Now domestic workers will be able to adequately provide for their own families, and finally be protected for the valuable work that they do," Gelser said. "And employers who hire domestic workers will have a standard to look towards which will help to ensure quality care for their families."

The new law takes effect January 1, 2016, and directs the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to adopt rules to implement it.

Charlie Burr, a BOLI spokesman, said the bureau will try to work with employers and the public through its technical assistance program this fall so they understand what is coming.

"The bill closes a loophole in civil rights and wage-and-hour protection so any person who is a victim of discrimination or sexual violence or is not getting their wages will have remedies," he said.

Though the bill requires employers to pay overtime, the provision is based on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour rather than Oregon's minimum $9.25 per hour.

According to a 2012 national survey of 2,000 domestic workers by the University of Illinois at Chicago, 23 percent of workers earned less than their state's minimum wage, 35 percent said they worked long hours without breaks and 23 percent of those fired said they were dismissed for complaining about working conditions.

Gelser said she was motivated to introduce legislation after attending an international symposium in 2012 sponsored by the Center for Women Policy Studies, where attendees discussed ways to fight trafficking of women and girls as a women's human rights crisis.

"The issue came up that domestic work is a place where international human trafficking is hidden," Gelser said. "Before that, I didn't understand that domestic work is excluded from workplace protections under state and federal law."

She credited co-sponsor Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, along with Family Forward Oregon, Oregon AFSCME and the immigrant rights organization Causa for their work on SB 522.

-- George Rede

grede@oregonian.com

503-294-4004

@georgerede