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Paid Care Workers

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New Amendments to NYC’s Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law

New amendments to NYC’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law) took effect September 30, 2020 and January 1, 2021. If you work part time or full time at any size business or nonprofit in NYC or if you work in an NYC household as a domestic worker, you have the right to safe and sick leave to care for yourself or anyone you consider family. You have this right regardless of your immigration status. Learn more about NYC's Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law.

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Paid Care Division
Press Releases and Reports on Paid Care Workers in New York City
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Paid Care Division

If you are a paid care worker in NYC, you now have a dedicated City resource for workplace questions and complaints: the Paid Care Division within the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Office of Labor Policy & Standards.

Paid care workers include homecare and domestic workers such as:

Nannies
Caregivers
Home care workers (for example: home health aides, personal care aides, home attendants)
Housecleaners

The Paid Care Division is dedicated to defending the rights of paid care workers, improving the quality of paid care jobs, and strengthening the paid care system. We support paid care workers in NYC through:

Public outreach and education to inform workers about their rights and the availability of City resources.
Enforcement and complaint intake and referral to address workplace violations at the local, state, and federal levels.
Research and policy development on worker demographics, working conditions and industry standards, employer compliance with workplace laws, and the effectiveness of worker cooperatives.

For questions about the Paid Care Division, email us at OLPS@dcwp.nyc.gov.

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Press Releases and Reports on Paid Care Workers in New York City

September 5, 2018. Department of Consumer Affairs Announces Findings of Major Investigations Involving 42 Home Care Agencies That Employ More Than 50,000 Workers

On March 27, 2018, DCA released report titled, “Lifting up Paid Care Work: Year One of New York City’s Paid Care Division,” which provides an analysis of what the City’s Paid Care Division has learned, model standards for paid care jobs, an overview of its accomplishments, and a roadmap for action it plans to take in the years to come as the Paid Care Division concludes its first year. In partnership with Ruth Milkman of The City University of New York, DCA also released the “Making Paid Care Work Visible” report, which, using focus group and survey results, details the concerns of New York City’s home-based paid care workers whose voices are too often unheard or disregarded by policymakers or by the wider public. Home-based paid care work is a rapidly growing field of employment in New York City and across the nation; paid care workers provide essential care to children, the elderly and disabled, as well as basic services like house cleaning. Yet this type of work is notorious for low pay and status, leaving workers economically insecure, vulnerable, and disrespected. Together, the reports provide critical insight into the growing need for OLPS’ role in the development of innovative policies that raise job standards, and for the Paid Care Division to expand its outreach and educational resources to workers and employers alike in its second year.

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Workplace Complaints

DCWP accepts complaints about employers for violations of paid care workers’ rights. File workplace complaint.

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