A housekeeper who worked for a family in Brooklyn for three years has recently recovered a $60,000 settlement after she was denied overtime wages.
The housekeeper worked as a live-out domestic worker for a family that had a 5-bedroom home in Midwood, Brooklyn and a summer home in the Rockaways. The housekeeper was responsible for maintaining the family’s home, including sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, washing, drying, and folding clothes, and checking on th three children. Her duties included sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, washing, drying, and folding clothes. Despite regularly working six days a week up to seventy-four hours every week, she was paid $15 per hour for all hours that she worked, including hours over forty per workweek.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law, live-out domestic workers must be paid overtime at one-and-one-half times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Domestic workers, including housekeepers, nannies, and other workers employed in private homes, are entitled to important wage protections under federal and New York law.
Pechman Law Group represented the housekeeper in this dispute. If you are a domestic worker who has a question about wage theft, or if you are an employer and are seeking guidance as to how to pay your housekeeper correctly, please call the attorneys at Pechman Law Group at 212-583-9500, or email us at help@domesticworkersnyc.com for a consultation.
