Dia de Los Muertos Action for Domestic Workers
On Thursday October 23, 2020 we joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, and Adhikaar, for a Dia de Los Muertos celebration demanding that Council Speaker Corey Johnson bring Intro 339 to a vote and include domestic workers in the New York City Human Rights Law!
It’s past time to include domestic workers in the New York City Human Rights Law. Currently, the Human Rights Law only applies to workplaces with four or more employees — but that leaves behind so many workers whose workplaces are other people’s homes.
Every worker — no matter how many people their employers employ — should be accommodated at work. This is especially relevant during the pandemic because the city has designated COVID-19 as a disability for the purposes of this law. Domestic workers on the frontlines of this crisis deserve the same protections as every other New Yorker affected by the virus.
The New York City Human rights law prohibits discrimination in New York City in employment, housing and public accommodations based on several protected categories, such as race, national origin, sex, religion, and disability, among others. It also extends the right to reasonable accommodations in employment for the following rights, among others:
Disability (including COVID-19)
Pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation
Religious observance
Status as victim of domestic or sexual violence, or stalking
