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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 943
AN ACT REQUIRING EMPLOYERS TO PROVIDE CERTAIN
INFORMATION TO DOMESTIC WORKERS AT THE TIME OF HIRE
AND ESTABLISHING AN EDUCATION AND TRAINING GRANT
PROGRAM FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS.
SUMMARY
This bill broadens the categories of written information that
employers must provide to certain domestic workers when they are
hired to include things such as their job duties and whether the
employer will charge fees for room and board.
It also requires the labor commissioner to establish a domestic
workers education and training grant program to provide grants to
qualified organizations to, among other things, educate domestic
workers about various labor laws. It appropriates $210,000 to the
Department of Labor for the program for FY 22.
“Domestic workers” under the bill are employees who are paid or
told they will be paid to perform work of a domestic nature in or about
a private dwelling. This includes housekeeping; home management;
child care; laundering; meal preparation; home companion services;
caretaking of sick, convalescing, or elderly individuals; and other
household services for the dwelling’s occupants or their guests. They
do not include irregular or intermittent babysitters or personal care
attendants providing personal care assistance to consumers in state-
funded programs, including the:
1. acquired brain injury Medicaid waiver program,
2. personal care assistance Medicaid waiver program,
3. Connecticut Home Care Program for the Elderly,
4. pilot program to provide home care services to disabled 2021SB-00943-R000403-BA.DOCX
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persons, and
5. Department of Developmental Services’ individual and family
support waiver program and comprehensive waiver program.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021, except the appropriation takes
effect July 1, 2021.
EMPLOYER NOTICE REQUIREMENT
Existing law requires employers to advise their employees, when
they are hired and in writing, about their pay rate, hours of
employment, and pay schedule (CGS § 31-71f). The bill requires
employers to additionally provide domestic workers, when they are
hired, with written information about (1) their job duties and
responsibilities; (2) the availability of sick leave, rest days, vacation,
personal days, and holidays, whether paid or unpaid, and the rate at
which those days accrue; and (3) whether the employer may charge
any fees or costs for board and lodging and, if so, their amount.
Existing law also requires employers to make available to all
employees, either in writing or through a posted notice, any
employment practices and policies, or changes to them, on the
following topics: wages, vacation pay, sick leave, health and welfare
benefits, and comparable matters.
GRANT PROGRAM
The bill requires the labor commissioner to establish a domestic
workers education and training grant program to provide grants to
qualified organizations to provide:
1. education and training for domestic workers and employers
about the laws on minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, record-
keeping, wage adjudication, retaliation, and the bill’s notice
requirement;
2. online resources for domestic workers and their employers on
state laws and regulations related to domestic workers; and 2021SB-00943-R000403-BA.DOCX
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3. technical and legal assistance to domestic workers and
employers through legal service providers.
Under the bill, a “qualified organization” eligible for the grants
must be either (1) a nonprofit organization that has at least five years
of experience working with domestic workers or (2) an organization
that works with a nonprofit organization that has at least five years of
experience advocating for domestic workers or other low-wage
workers. A nonprofit organization is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
organization.
The bill allows the commissioner to enter into an agreement, under
the state’s laws for state consultants and personal service agreements,
with a third-party person, firm, or corporation to administer the grant
program. It also requires the commissioner to create guidelines needed
to administer the grants, in consultation with the third-party it
contracts with, if applicable.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/23/2021)