CALIFORNIA CAREGIVERS—KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! - From Balita Magazine - March 1-7 2025
California is home to over 300,000 domestic workers, many of whom are in-home caregivers who assist our aging population. Domestic workers are vital to California’s economy. They allow family members of the elderly to continue working in their careers, thereby avoiding the disruption they would otherwise face if they were forced to care for their loved ones directly. In-home caregivers especially allow our elderly population to age in place and thus avoid the loss of dignity and freedom that is often associated with institutional care.
Despite the critical role they play in our economy, domestic workers are often marginalized and underpaid. They work in the homes of their employers and are isolated in the sense that they generally have no or very few co-workers. Most are immigrants to this country, many of whom speak limited English. Thus, they often lack knowledge of their rights under California law and lack the resources to acquire information that would protect them from being taken advantage of. So in this article, the lawyers at Rehwald Peterson want to inform you of some of your most basic and important rights as caregivers:
1. The Right to Minimum Wages: As a domestic worker or in-home caregiver, you are entitled to be paid minimum wage for every “hour worked.” California’s minimum wage in 2025 is $16.50 per hour. That means that if you work 8 hours in one day, you must be paid $132 ($16.50 x 8 = $132). It is illegal for an employer to enter into an agreement with an employee to pay that employee less than the legal minimum wage. So, even if you agreed to accept a wage below $16.50, this is illegal, and you are still entitled to California’s minimum wage rate.
To comply with the minimum wage laws, an employer may pay you a salary or a daily rate. However, when averaged, that daily rate or salary must be at least equivalent to minimum wage for every hour you worked. So, if you earn $132 or higher for working 8 hours per day, that amounts to $16.50 per hour and that salary complies with California’s minimum wage laws. But if you are paid $125 (i.e., below $132), that salary violates California’s minimum wage laws because it amounts to less than the required minimum wage of $16.50 per hour.
2. The Right to Overtime Wages: Most California domestic workers are entitled to receive overtime compensation under the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights which took effect in 2014. This includes the vast majority of in-home California caregivers. If you are an in-home caregiver, you are entitled to be paid overtime when you work more than 9 hours in any workday or more than 45 hours in any workweek. Overtime pay is defined as one-and-one-half times your regular hourly rate. So, if you are being paid minimum wage, and you work 10 hours in a day, the 10th hour must be paid at the rate of $24.75.
In the case of a 24-hour, in-home caregiver, they are entitled to minimum wage for the first 9 hours (i.e., 9 x $16.50 = $148.50) and they are entitled to be paid the legal overtime rate of $24.75 for the 15 hours of overtime they work (i.e., $24.75 x 15 = $371.25). Thus, a 24-hour, in-home caregiver must be paid $519.75 per day to comply with California’s minimum wage and overtime rules. If you work 24 hours per day and are being paid less than $519.75, please contact us as you might have a very valuable claim.
Unlike the minimum wage laws, an employer cannot comply with the overtime laws by paying you a salary or a daily rate. If you are paid a salary or a daily rate, California law deems that to be payment for your regular time hours only. This means that in addition to your salary, you must be paid the legal overtime rate for every hour you work. Thus, if your employer pays you $250 per day for working 24 hours, this does not compensate you for any of the overtime hours you work. You would be entitled to one-and-one-half times your “regular rate” of pay for all 15 hours of overtime. If you are being paid a daily rate or a salary and you are working more than 9 hours in a day or 45 hours in a week, please contact us for a free, confidential consultation.
3. The Right to Bring a Claim Even If You Are Undocumented: Many domestic workers are undocumented. With the recent election of Donald Trump, and his threat of mass deportations, many of our clients are scared of the consequences. If you are undocumented, however, California law still allows you to bring a claim for unpaid overtime wages. And California has strong statutory protections against employers trying to use your immigration status against you. California law prohibits an employer from asking any questions about your immigration status during the course of your lawsuit.
And, your employer cannot bring up your employment status in court if your case goes to trial. Our law firm has protected many undocumented workers who have brought claims for unpaid overtime wages. We have fought employers who have tried to use our clients’ immigration status as a weapon. If you are undocumented, and you think you might have a claim, please contact us. We have ways to protect you in litigation, and we can put you in touch with a good immigration lawyer who can further advise you on how to protect yourself. There may be legal avenues of protection that you can use to obtain legal status. We will help you in this process.
4. The Right to Employee Status: In 2020, the UCLA Labor Center released a study on the demographics of domestic workers in California. They found that domestic workers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the state. One of the main contributing factors to those low wages was employers’ misclassification of employees as independent contractors. If you are classified as an independent contractor, you are denied the right to minimum wages, overtime compensation, workers’ compensation, and employer-side contributions to your Social Security, unemployment insurance, and state disability insurance.
Many caregivers mistakenly believe that it is better to be treated as an independent contractor because they believe it increases their take-home pay each paycheck. But this is incorrect. As an independent contractor, you have to pay the employer’s side of the payroll taxes, and it serves as an excuse for the employer to refuse to pay you minimum wages and overtime wages (see Rights 1 and 2 above). So even if your take-home check appears bigger, in reality, it comes with additional obligations to pay taxes, and it generally means that you are being paid less money if your employer uses your “independent contractor” label to try to circumvent California’s minimum wage and overtime laws.
The good news is that California generally defines anyone who performs domestic work to be a domestic work employee, and not an independent contractor. And if you have been misclassified, you can still bring a claim for unpaid wages and potentially for additional penalties under the law. If you are working as an in-home caregiver, and you have been misclassified as an independent contractor, please contact us directly.
5. The Right to Be Free from Workplace Harassment: California law also prohibits all employers from subjecting employees to unlawful harassment in the workplace. Domestic workers, including domestic caregivers, are no exception. Yet, domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to harassment because they often work in isolation and depend heavily on continued employment because they receive poverty wages. A recent study showed that 36% of live-in domestic workers in the United States have been verbally harassed at work and that many others have been threatened, subjected to racial slurs, and sexually abused. This number is simply unacceptable. If you are a domestic worker in California, you have a right to be free from harassment at work. If you have experienced workplace harassment because of your gender, sex, race, or any other protected reason, please call us.
6. The Right to Advocate for Fair Treatment: If you are an employee in California, you have the right to complain to your employer if you believe that they are violating any of the rights discussed above. If you do this, your employer is not legally allowed to fire you in retaliation for making such a complaint. If they do, you may also have a claim for wrongful termination. So if your rights above are being violated, it is important to contact an attorney to know how best to handle this situation.
Conclusion: For the past 8 years, the lawyers at Rehwald Peterson (formerly Chalef Rehwald Peterson) have devoted themselves to protecting in-home caregivers, facility caregivers, and other domestic workers, such as nannies and doulas. We have represented over 500 caregivers and recovered more than $70,000,000 in unpaid wages for domestic workers who have been the victims of wage theft. We also have relationships with immigration attorneys and can help you find the help you need if you are undocumented.
We offer free, confidential consultations in which you can share your situation with us without fear that your employer or the government will learn what you
are saying. We are bound by a duty of confidentiality every time we talk to a prospective client. So if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Even if we do not take your case, or if you elect not to go forward, we can at least give you some free education about your rights. What are you waiting for? You deserve fair wages. And we want to fight for you if you have not been paid those wages.