Have Your Employers Paid for Medical Expenses When Hurt on the Job?Yesterday we started discussing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (CDWBR).
This bill guarantees equal right to a safe and healthy workplace. Domestic workers are currently excluded from protection under California’s Occupational Safety & Health Act (CAL-OSHA). The CDWBR would extend CAL-OSHA protection to all domestic workers.
This bill also guarantees equal right to worker’s compensation. Workers compensation allows the worker to be paid for work-related injuries or death on the job. Workers compensation insurance most commonly pays for the medical expenses of a work-related injuries, in return the employee won't sue for those expenses. Domestic workers are carved-out of California’s worker’s compensation laws when they work in private households less than 52-hours or earn less than $100 in the previous 90-days. The CDWBR would cover ALL domestic workers under California’s worker’s compensation laws.
PRO: This is a protection nannies need and deserve. Few nannies have the funds to be able to afford health insurance or to afford emergency health care. It is fair and equitable that a nanny can receive preventive and acute care when injured on the job.
CON: This provision is too expensive and too burdensome for the employer and will ultimately discourage the hiring of nannies. The specific terms for these issues should be negotiated by each family with each nanny on a case-by-case basis and not mandated by government action.
Do you get any health care benefits?
