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Verma1

Abhishek Verma

Professor Woods

English 1302-81709

12 November 2021

Are inadequate Labor laws to blame for the plight of American Domestic Workers?

Inadequate labor laws among domestic workers in the United States of America continue to be a major legislative challenge. Having a large industrial workforce, most American people spend most of their time at work, leaving their houses to domestic staff. As a result, many of these domestic employees, who continue to undertake some of the most vital household tasks such as cleaning and caring for children, are underpaid and under-protected by federal and state regulations. This problem may stem from the fact that domestic employment has been around since slavery days. It was widely considered that most domestic slaves were owned by their masters and hence were subject to their master's wishes. Can we attribute this laxity to the past social precedence during slavery days, assuming that domestic workers deserve very little or no consideration? On a different note, there is a school of thought which asserts that the challenges faced by domestic workers in the country are not as a result of legislative failures to protect their rights but rather due to the laxities of the employers and the workers themselves. I believe many people feel like the employment agencies and the employers are the ones who are not doing enough towards protecting the domestic workers assigned to them. This school of thought feels like apart from the importance of protective legislations, the element of humanity on the part of the employers should also play a crucial part in protecting domestic workers. This discussion highlights how American domestic workers are not just affected by state and federal legislation failures but majorly through a lack of humanistic approach by the employers and laxity of domestic workers themselves to agitate for their rights.

Domestic workers in the United States of America continue to face many challenges within their line of duty. This aspect is even though they play a crucial role in the economic establishment of the nation through their role in taking care of American homes when the owners are out there building the economy. For many years, it has been claimed that the plight of domestic workers has been on a negative note because of the lack of many interventions that could have otherwise helped them. Many still believe that, unlike other professions whereby the latter follows the rule of law, most of these domestic workers normally work under the mercies of their employers and recruitment agencies. According to the Centre for American Progress, approximately 2.5 million domestic workers in the United States face difficulties such as sexual harassment, racism, and economic discrimination every day. They are aggravated by the lack of federal and state legislation that shielded them from their plights. Most of the time, these workers lack the proper avenues to voice their concerns and complaints. Their only hope is that their employers, who are more concerned about the task they are meant to complete than their well-being, would listen to them. I think most domestic workers in the country are either poor or immigrants from other countries who have migrated to the country in search of a better life. This has made it difficult for them to acquire effective representation since they lack proper support for appreciating and being treated with decorum, as other workers in the country do.

Through an opinion editorial at The Seattle Times, Claudia Yaw asserts that the situation of domestic workers in the United States has gone unnoticed for many years. Labor rules that exempt some domestic employees from minimum hourly wages have highlighted this issue. In recent times, after several uproars from the public, the legislators are now pressing for laws that safeguard domestic employees, such as requiring written agreements between the two parties or prohibiting the employer from threatening workers. Wolfe et al. give some statistics on the socio-economic state of these individuals. For example, the median pay for domestic workers is $12.01 per hour compared to other workers who get $19.97 per hour. Second, the employer's retirement plan covers fewer than one domestic worker. Third, only one in five receive health coverage from their employer. Fourth, domestic workers are three times as likely to be in poverty and almost three times as likely to lack enough income to make ends meet. I would say there is also the assumption that because they do their labor indoors, the American domestic workers are likely to be exposed to as much risk of abuse as those who work outside the home are. In many cases, these workers are immigrants or residents of low-income areas who may not know their legal rights. As a result, they have been forced to work in a hostile atmosphere due to flaws in regulations.

However, a glimmer of optimism remains for domestic workers despite these difficulties. Poo and Dawn, through an opinion Editorial article on CNN Business, highlights that some states have begun to show progress in key protective legislation. For example, the state of New York passed A domestic workers' bill of rights in 2010. Additionally, only eleven states and the cities of Philadelphia and Seattle have enacted such legislation. Protection against discrimination and compensation for overtime work is among the provisions included in this measure.

As opposed to the above sentiments that legislative inadequacies cause the plight of domestic workers in the country, I say that the major problem lies with the employers and the workers themselves. I believe the mantle is not solely on the government but the employers and the workers themselves. The employers of these domestic workers have failed to act with utmost humanity towards protecting these domestic workers by offering contracts that are not geared towards protecting the latter's rights. For example, it is not right for parents to mistreat their domestic workers, who are also parents in their ways. Varia (pg. 18) highlights the failures of the employment agencies towards protecting the domestic workers by stating that Domestic employees are nearly usually underpaid because of the enormous hours they are expected to put in. Males typically perform gardening and driving; hence men's pay tends to be lower than the service sector's minimum wage and prevailing wages for these jobs. It is estimated that migrant domestic workers in the United States of America can expect to earn anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of the country's de facto minimum wage. According to hiring agencies, Indonesian and Sri Lankan domestic employees are paid less than Filipina maids because of their national background rather than their abilities and experience. Most of the domestic worker's recruitment agencies have placed profit-making ahead of the interest of the domestic workers, thereby not concentrating on some of the atrocities and work challenges that the latter may be facing. For instance, most domestic workers' recruit agencies never follow up on the progress of the work once they assign them to their respective workplaces. Secondly, recruitment agencies have turned greedy by taking a huge chunk of pay from the employers while the actual workers are left with very little to sustain them in the long run. Varia (pg. 19) highlights that there is greed in the recruitment agencies. She gives an example by saying that while companies only pay modest fees, agencies and employers are taking advantage of migrants' desperate need to find work to put the burden of recruitment expenses onto the workers themselves. As a result, migrant domestic workers from other countries face an unjustifiable debt burden. To pay these expenses, many Indonesian domestic workers migrate to the United States of America by taking out loans from local moneylenders with interest rates as high as 100 percent. Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong often work without pay for up to 10 months out of a two-year contract since they must return these wages to pay back their recruitment expenses. Workers are reluctant to report abuse because they fear losing their employment and being unable to pay off their debts due to the financial strain.

Second, I believe that domestic workers have failed to have policies that can protect them from exploitation. For example, they can develop a system to set up clear contracting guidelines to govern their work. These contractual guidelines are likely to form an integral part in ensuring that the conduct of the employers is in the interest of the workers rather than of the employing agencies. For example, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of domestic workers who belong to labor unions is very low as compared to other professions. This aspect makes them not have a collective bargain agreement with their employers towards protecting their interests. For example, in 2020, full-time wage and salary workers who were union members earned an average of $1,144 per week, while those who were not union members earned an average of $958 per week. Moreover, despite several domestic worker unions such as National Domestic Workers Alliance, only a handful of the workers who are aware of such organizations or most do not care to bother much about their existence. Additionally, the workers are also at fault for their employment predicaments because most of them, especially from Latin American countries like Mexico, Honduras, and Colombia, find their way into the country without proper documentation. This aspect makes it difficult for the authorities to protect their interests because they are less likely to report any abuse or work challenges they are likely to encounter.

Domestic workers in the United States of America continue to face many challenges within their line of duty. This aspect is even though they play a crucial role in the economic establishment of the nation through their role in taking care of American homes when the owners are out there building the economy. Some of the challenges that they face include discrimination, sexual harassment, and economic exploitation. These troubles are further aggravated because federal and state protection laws have omitted those legislations that would have safeguarded them from their plights. However, shifting the blame entirely to the state and federal governments may not be correct. This aspect is because the worker's recruitment agencies and the workers themselves are also to blame for these challenges. For example, workers' recruitment agencies have shown greed in their payment programs and enticed the workers more so from developing countries with "lucrative deal" that makes them indebted. This aspect makes it difficult for the workers to have a say in their earnings and work conditions. Secondly, the domestic workers have also not put much effort into joining ventures that can ensure their work safety and welfare, such as labor unions. Thirdly, a significant number of workers, more so from Latin American countries, do not have valid work permits and papers, making them at the mercy of their employers who underpay and mistreat them at will. The challenges faced by American domestic workers are way above failures of legislation by the federal and state governments.

Works cited

Centre for American Progress. Domestic Workers Lack Protections. Updated June 17, 2011. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2011/06/17/9712/idea-of-the-day-domestic-workers-lack-protections/

Falconer, Rebecca, and Kelly, Annie. "The global plight of domestic workers: few rights, little freedom, frequent abuse." The Guardian March 17, 2015.https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/mar/17/global-plight-domestic-workers-labour-rights-little-freedom-abuse

Poo, Ai-Jen and Gearhart, Dawn. "Domestic workers have long been underpaid and unappreciated. It's time we give them what they deserve." CNN Business June 17, 2021.https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/17/perspectives/domestic-workers-benefits-protections/index.html

U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union Members Summary. Updated January 22, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm

Varia, Nisha. "Sanctioned Abuses: The Case of Migrant Domestic Workers." Human Rights Brief 14, no. 3 (2007): 17-20. https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1227&context=hrbrief

Wolfe, Julia, Kandra, Jori, Engdahl, Lora and Shierholz, Heidi. "Domestic workers chartbook: A comprehensive look at the demographics, wages, benefits, and poverty rates of the professionals who care for our family members and clean our homes." Economic Policy Institute May 14, 2020. https://www.epi.org/publication/domestic-workers-chartbook-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-demographics-wages-benefits-and-poverty-rates-of-the-professionals-who-care-for-our-family-members-and-clean-our-homes/

Yaw, Claudia. "Domestic Workers Bill of Rights' measures introduced in Legislature." Seattle Times January 28, 2020. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/domestic-workers-bill-of-rights-measures-introduced-in-legislature/