SB 5023 — Providing labor market protections for domestic workers
Status: By resolution, returned to Senate Rules Committee for third reading (4/27/2025). Introduced (prefiled) 12/10/2024.
Purpose
To extend fundamental labor and employment protections to people who perform domestic services in private homes (nannies, house cleaners, home care workers, cooks, gardeners, household managers, etc.), filling historical gaps in wage, hour, safety, discrimination, and contract protections for domestic workers.
Key provisions (core bill)
- Definitions
- Establishes “domestic worker” and “hiring entity” for the chapter. The bill generally covers hourly and salaried domestic employees who perform domestic services in residences. Certain categories (casual babysitting, casual labor, some individual providers, family members, and duties limited to house/pet sitting or dog walking) are excluded.
- Wages and hours
- Hiring entities must pay at least the state minimum wage (current base cited in reports was $16.66, adjusted annually by L&I).
- Overtime: 1.5x the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
- Meal and rest breaks
- 30-minute uninterrupted meal period (no less than 2 and no more than 5 hours into a shift) and 10-minute rest break per four hours worked.
- Meal/rest periods are compensable if the worker is required to remain on duty; employers generally may not discourage breaks or request waiver.
- If duties make relief impractical, time must be paid.
- Written agreements and worker rights
- Hiring entities must provide written terms at hire (location, rate of pay, schedules, meal/rest breaks, overtime expectations, deductions if applicable, sick/vacation/holiday policies, transportation costs, etc.) in a language the worker understands.
- Domestic workers retain personal effects and immigration documents.
- Advance notice of termination: typically two weeks (four weeks for live-in workers), with specified exceptions.
- Protections from retaliation and hostile work environments
- Prohibits adverse actions against workers for exercising rights; establishes a rebuttable presumption of retaliation in certain circumstances.
- Enforcement and remedies
- Directs the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) to enforce the new chapter and permits administrative complaints to L&I.
- Establishes a private cause of action for domestic workers to seek remedies (details vary by version).
- Directs L&I to convene a work group to study models to extend workers’ compensation access to domestic workers.
Additional legal protections (WLAD amendment)
One amendment draft would add an unfair-practice provision to the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) specifically making it unlawful for hiring entities to discriminate in compensation or discharge domestic workers based on protected characteristics. That amendment would:
- Apply regardless of employer size;
- Make the HRC administrative complaint process unavailable for these specific claims, while preserving a private civil action under WLAD (with recovery of actual damages plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs).
Proposed/considered amendments (not finally enacted as of 4/27/2025)
Multiple floor and Appropriations amendments were proposed (many listed as “not considered” on 4/27), including items that would:
- Exclude independent contractors from the definition of domestic worker (Engell amendment).
- Limit the bill’s application to workers age 18+.
- Exclude au pair participants in the federal exchange visitor program.
- Narrow the definition of “hiring entity” by removing indirect actors.
- Modify written agreement requirements (require rate of pay, but limit other required elements to those “applicable”).
- Allow a domestic worker to voluntarily waive meal/rest breaks (amendment language varies across drafts).
- Modify/remake private right of action remedies (e.g., limit damages or remove private cause of action entirely).
Who is affected
- Covered: domestic workers as defined in the bill (nannies, house cleaners, cooks, gardeners, home care workers, household managers) and the hiring entities (individual employers, households, agencies) that employ or pay them.
- Excluded: categories explicitly carved out (casual babysitting, casual labor not in employer’s trade/business, certain individual providers, family members, etc.), and potentially additional exclusions if amendments are adopted.
Procedural & timeline notes
- Passed the Senate (3/5/2025 third reading: 29–20).
- Advanced through House committees; Appropriations reported the bill with amendments (4/7/2025).
- Returned to Senate Rules Committee for third reading by resolution (4/27/2025). Multiple Appropriations-floor amendments were proposed/considered; final text and which amendments will be adopted remains subject to final legislative action.
Potential impacts
- Extends baseline labor protections (wages, overtime, breaks, written terms) to a historically exempt workforce, increasing compliance obligations for households and entities that employ domestic workers.
- Expands enforcement workload for L&I; may increase litigation or private suits depending on final remedies language.
- Could affect labor arrangements (classification choices, contracting practices, live‑in employment terms) and costs for households/agencies that employ domestic staff.
If you want, I can prepare a one-page comparison of the original bill vs. major proposed amendments (showing what would change if each amendment is adopted).
