Under California law, personal attendants are caregivers and childcare providers who spend a significant amount of time caring for children, seniors, or people with disabilities. Personal attendants can be either live-in or live-out employees. If more than twenty percent (20%) of your time in a week is spent on non-caregiving duties, such as general housekeeping, you are NOT a personal attendant.

Personal attendants were originally excluded from overtime protections, but in September 2013 the Governor signed into law the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (AB 241) extending overtime protections to personal attendants! AB 241 became effective on January 1, 2014. In 2016, the California Domestic Workers Coalition made AB 241 overtime rights permanent by passing SB 1015.

Am I a Personal Attendant?

Caregiving/Personal Attendant Duties	Non-Caregiving/Non-Personal Attendant Duties
Feeding the client	Housecleaning
Dressing the client	Laundry
Bathing the client	Cooking
Toileting	Laundry
Direct supervision of client (e.g. help with toileting, walking transferring	Making beds
Time spent: 80% or more of your total work time on caregiving activities, your are a personal attendant	Time spent: No more than 20 % your total work time on non-caregiving activities above to be considered a personal attendant.
Example: If you work 40 hours a week and spend MORE than 32 hours on above duties, you ARE a personal attendant.	Example: If you work 40 hours a week and spend more than 8 hours on above duties, your are NOT a personal attendant

You are not a personal attendant if…

… you spend more than 20% of your total weekly hours on non-caregiving duties. Domestic workers who are not personal attendants get different types of overtime depending on whether you are a live-in or live-out worker.