SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - September 1, 2011 - How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers' compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for… babysitters? Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated.
Assembly Bill 889, authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), would require these protections for all “domestic employees”, including nannies, housekeepers and caregivers.
The bill has already passed the Assembly and is quickly moving through the Senate with blanket support from the Democrat members that control both houses of the Legislature - and without the support of a single Republican member. Assuming the bill will easily clear its last couple of legislative hurdles, AB 889 will soon be on its way to the governor's desk.
Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka parents) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, provide workers' compensation coverage, overtime pay, and a meticulously calculated timecard/paycheck.
Failure to abide by any of these provisions may result in a legal cause of action against the employer, including cumulative penalties, attorneys' fees, legal costs and expenses associated with hiring expert witnesses, an unprecedented measure of legal recourse provided no other class of workers - from agricultural laborers to garment manufacturers.
On the bright side, language requiring an hour of paid vacation time for every 30 hours worked was removed from the bill by the Senate.
Unfortunately, the unreasonable costs and risks contained in this bill will discourage people from hiring housekeepers, nannies and babysitters, and increase the use of institutionalized care rather than allowing children, the sick or elderly, to be cared for in their homes.
Ed. Note: Which is probably the whole point, after all! Force children’s care into government bureaucrat hands, thereby giving more control than ever to the State! The solution: refuse to comply! Be prepared to shoot any bureaucrat that tries to force you to comply! If you are disinclined toward violence, then move your family out of the People’s Socialist Republic of Kalifornia!
