Joshua Valenzuela
In California, a recent Senate Bill 1257, The Health and Safety for All Workers Act, seeks to provide housekeeping and domestic workers with the same protections as most other workers under Cal/OSHA labor law (California’s Occupational Safety Administration Regulations). And it could compel more states, and even the federal government, to do the same.
Coronavirus has exposed the fact that domestic workers across the world—most of whom are women and low-income—generally lack any legal or economic protections to help them through these trying times.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on in the U.S., there’s no better time to pass such a bill—not only to protect California’s domestic workers, but also to set an example for other states.