Philadelphia’s Domestic Worker Bill of Rights Law (DWL) took effect on May 1, 2020. Employers of domestic workers are required to notify their employees of their rights, maintain records to show compliance and provide a cornucopia of benefits that include:

• Mandatory time off (e.g. a "live-in" domestic worker is entitled to a 24-hour rest period after six consecutive days of work)
• Mandatory paid time off
• Two weeks’ notice of termination or two weeks’ severance pay (four weeks for live-in workers) except where there is a “good-faith belief that the domestic worker has engaged in significant misconduct.”
• Mandatory uninterrupted paid rest period of not less than ten minutes for each four consecutive hours worked “unless the nature of the work prevents the domestic worker from being relieved of all duties for such period.”
• Mandatory uninterrupted 30-minute meal break after more than five consecutive hours worked. However, an "on-duty" paid meal period is permitted by written agreement only when the nature of the work prevents a domestic worker from being relieved of all duties. Failure to allow a meal or rest period shall entitle the domestic worker to one additional hour of pay.

In addition, the DWL:

• Prohibits discrimination and sexual harassment
• Prohibits labor trafficking
• Prohibits workplace surveillance in bathrooms, private living quarters of the domestic worker, while changing clothes or engaging in private communications
• Prohibits retaliation against a domestic worker for exercising rights

A domestic worker includes anyone (including independent contractors) working in a residence for the purposes of:

• Caring for a child, serving as a companion or caretaker for a sick convalescing, elderly or a person with a disability; or
• Housekeeping or house cleaning; cooking; providing food or butler service; parking cars; cleaning laundry; gardening; personal organizing or any other domestic service purpose.

The law excludes:

• A family member of the service user
• An individual primarily engaged in housesitting, pet sitting or dog walking
• An individual working at a business operated primarily out of the residence, such as a home day care business
• An individual whose primary work involves household repair or maintenance, such as a roofer, plumber, mason or painter
• A home health care worker while they are paid through public funds
• An individual who is less than 18 years of age.

Every domestic worker is required to sign a written contract unless they work on a “casual basis” or fewer than five hours per month. The contract can only be signed after the worker has had an “ample opportunity to review” it. The contract must be signed and dated and contain:

• A specific list of job duties
• Wages to be paid, including overtime, and the manner and frequency of payment
• A weekly schedule including number of hours of work per week
• Identification of breaks for rest and meals
• Leave time, paid and unpaid, including sick time
• Paid holidays
• Modes of transportation required and whether provided
• Value of housing, if provided
• Sleeping period and personal time for live-in workers
• The term of the contract

The agreement must be in English or such other language as may be preferred by the worker and there must be “reasonable efforts to determine if the worker would prefer the agreement to be in another language.”

The DWL is enforced by the Mayor’s Office of Labor which is empowered to impose penalties, fines, back pay and equitable relief (including reinstatement). The office has developed a Template Contract.

The DWL also purports to confer a private right of action upon an aggrieved worker to pursue relief, including reinstatement, back pay, equitable relief and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

Nine states — New Mexico, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, California, Illinois, Nevada, Massachusetts and Oregon — and the City of Seattle have passed legislation to protect domestic workers in one way or another.