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On 24 April 2018, over 200 domestic workers, farmworker women and allies came together for the Unstoppable Day of Action at the U.S. capitol, calling on lawmakers to pass sexual harassment protections for all workers. After a press conference in the morning, a delegation of women led by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (National Farmworker Women’s Alliance) visited over 60 members of Congress from both chambers to discuss legislative solutions to sexual harassment. Specifically, they are calling on employers, lawmakers, and advocates all over the United States to:
- Close legal loopholes so that workplace harassment and abuse is deemed unlawful in every workplace – no exceptions.
- Make it simple and safe for workers to report sexual harassment and file complaints.
- Provide funding for culturally and linguistically appropriate resources for domestic workers and farmworkers who file complaints.
- Promote policy reform to ensure that farmworkers and domestic workers are covered by anti-sexual harassment and retaliation laws.
For decades, domestic workers and farmworker women have been systematically excluded from labour protection laws and have faced extensive barriers to justice for sexual harassment, among other forms of abuse. Most have no human resources department to turn to, and are not covered by Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination law that prohibits sexual harassment, as the law currently only applies to workplaces with 15 employees or more. Since most workers in the care sector are the only or one of just a few employees in their workplace, they – along with independent contractors – fall beyond the purview of this federal labour protection instrument.
