A Manhattan housekeeper who worked for the same employer for approximately 20 years has recovered a $125,000 settlement after she was denied overtime wages for years.
The housekeeper worked as a live-out domestic worker for a professor at a college in Manhattan. As part of her job, the housekeeper was responsible for maintaining the employer’s two floor, ten room apartment. Her duties included sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, washing, drying, and folding clothes, and caring for the employer’s pets. Despite regularly working long, grueling hours every week, she was paid on a fixed salary of $2,000 that did not take into account the overtime hours she worked 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. A fixed weekly or annual salary cannot simply be used to avoid paying overtime when a worker is legally entitled to it.
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.
