In many American households domestic workers like nannies, housekeepers, and home health

aids perform essential tasks.

But as Ali Rogan reports, they also have fewer rights and protections than most U.S. workers.

Each day, nearly 2.5 million nannies, aides for the elderly and home cleaners do jobs that allow much of the

rest of the American workforce to do theirs.

But despite being such a foundational part of the economy, many of these workers are excluded

from key workplace protections.

Those include the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act,

which respectively cover wages and workplace safety.

Protections also vary by state.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have passed their own domestic workers' bills of rights,

but there is no such federal law.

Members of Congress have tried and failed to pass a federal version for several years.

Caitlin Henderson is a senior researcher at Oxfam, a global organization fighting

poverty and injustice where she studies how states treat workers and working families.

Caitlin, thank you so much for being here.

First of all, why have domestic workers historically been excluded from these sorts of protections?

So unfortunately that reflects a long history of sexual and racial discrimination in this

country where black women were really excluded from labor protections in the 1930s

during President Franklin Roosevelt's new deal. Unfortunately when we were creating the social safety net that still exists President frameworks of minimum wages, overtime protections, and the right to organize.

And beyond their exclusion from these statutory protections, why is it that these workers are

so vulnerable to mistreatment? As you mentioned earlier, domestic workers are so vulnerable to mistreatment.

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