skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

AZ Senate passes repeal of 1864 near-total abortion ban; Campus protests opposing the war in Gaza grow across CA; Closure of Indiana's oldest gay bar impacts LGBTQ+ community; Broadband crunch produces side effect: underground digging mishaps.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Campus Gaza protests continue, and an Arab American mayor says voters are watching. The Arizona senate votes to repeal the state's 1864 abortion ban. And a Pennsylvania voting rights advocate says dispelling misinformation is a full-time job.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Bidding begins soon for Wyoming's elk antlers, Southeastern states gained population in the past year, small rural energy projects are losing out to bigger proposals, and a rural arts cooperative is filling the gap for schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

New Mexico's Domestic Workers May Soon Get Wage Protections

play audio
Play

Friday, February 22, 2019   

SANTA FE, N.M. - The people who make it possible for others to have a job in New Mexico may finally get wage protections if a bill makes it through the state Legislature this session.

In the United States, domestic workers - the housekeepers, nannies and home-health aides working in private homes - often are paid far less than minimum wage without repercussions.

Stephanie Welch, supervising attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said passage of Senate Bill 85 would correct state law adopted in the 1930s that doesn't require employers to pay domestic workers minimum wage or overtime, keep records about their employment or pay them in full or on time.

"Work traditionally done by people of color and by women has been historically just excluded from wage laws, and that problem has been fixed, largely, at the federal level," she said. "But here in New Mexico, we still have this discriminatory exclusion."

The bill passed in the Senate along party lines, with those objecting saying they're reluctant to impose new regulations on employers. Research has shown that undocumented domestic workers, especially in border states, experience far higher rates of economic hardship than U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

In a recent report cited by New Mexico's Voices for Children, the state ranks first nationwide for its percentage of working families that are low-income - almost 45 percent are considered "working poor." Welch said that includes many domestic workers who, by the very nature of their jobs, can be subject to a variety of abuses, including wage theft.

"People are isolated in working in other people's homes, and so a lot of things could be happening that we don't know about," she said, "and these are the people that are doing some of the most important work of caring for our loved ones."

Research by the National Domestic Workers Alliance in 2017 showed that less than half of domestic workers are paid enough to adequately support a family.

The text of SB 85 is online at nmlegis.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Protest encampments such as this one at San Francisco State University against the war in Gaza have now spread to a half dozen campuses across California. (Sam Cheng/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Massive protests and tent encampments opposing the war in Gaza are growing at universities across California, with classes canceled at the University …


play sound

A recent study by the Environmental Defense Fund showed communities near mega warehouses are exposed to more polluted air. More than 2 million …

Social Issues

play sound

A new report shows Black girls are enduring disproportionate discipline, sexual harassment and public humiliation from school-based police and …


A Minnesota research group said between 2020 and 2022, buried utility infrastructure was damaged 7,440 times, with broadband installation serving as a major factor. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Government leaders are acting with urgency to get underserved communities connected with high speed internet but in Minnesota, underground digging …

play sound

Several Connecticut counties rank poorly in the latest State of the Air report by the American Lung Association. Four counties measured for ozone …

A Marist Poll found 31% of rural New Yorkers want increased state funding for developing new homes. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing. In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Recent research shows approximately half of people who die by suicide had contact with a health care professional within the month prior to their deat…

Social Issues

play sound

Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have joined the Montana Quality Education Association in a suit to stop a school voucher bill in …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021