California AB 889 — the State climbs further into your home
The State should support families and better enable them to survive and thrive. California, however, is once again making it difficult-to-impossible for families to care for their own members in their own homes. AB 889 is expected to soon be on Governor Brown‘s desk.
If you hire someone to care for your children in your home while you work, or care for an elderly parent, or care for someone who is sick or handicapped, AB 889 (Domestic Work Employees) would require you to provide rest breaks every two hours, carry Workers’ Comp insurance, issue paychecks with itemized pay stubs, etc. It also allows for lawsuits and penalties if “employers” (aka Mom and Dad) fail to know and follow all of the labyrinthine requirements:
AB 889: “Adventures in Babysitting” Bill Is Making Its Way to the Governor’s Desk
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 Assemblymember Tom Ammiano of San Francisco) will 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, in addition to 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 amended out of the bill in the Senate.)
Unfortunately, the unreasonable costs and risks contained in this bill will discourage folks 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. I can’t help but wonder if that is the goal of AB 889 – a terrible bill that needs to be stopped.
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California is the worst state in the union for being a nanny government. Yet they are also horribly in debt. Rather than fixing their financial system they continue to spend time interfering with citizens’ rights. I think the union should secede from California.
There’s been talk of several Conservative southern CA counties seceding from the rest of the state. As a resident of So Cal, I would LOVE that! (It probably won’t happen, though.)
I, too, would be happy to see the state split. It currently borders on being ungovernable. There are two arguments against the split as I see it: (1) it is unlikely to pass any time soon, and (2) conservative southern Californians keep northern California from going completely off the rails.
The future power block in California politics could be conservative Hispanic voters. The Democrats ignore their conservatism, and the Republicans alienate the Hispanics in general. If Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles can mobilize his flock to create a viable political path for conservative Latinos, it could revolutionize California politics.