Portable Benefits for Domestic Workers
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Most domestic workers lack the social safety net of benefits such as minimum wage, overtime, sick pay and vacation pay. That’s why NDWA Labs, the innovation arm of National Domestic Workers Alliance,has created Alia, which the New York nonprofit calls “the first portable-benefits platform in the country.”
“We’re offering benefits in a way no one else is, trying to expand a lot of norms across the entire economy for certain kinds of work,” said Palak Shah, the alliance’s social innovations director.
Alia is starting as a solution for house cleaners, in part because they’re one of the hardest groups to help. They’re isolated and almost invisible, working in private homes. Most work varying hours for many different clients. They make low wages, often paid in cash under the table. They’re excluded from federal laws that would protect them from discrimination, give them the right to organize, and provide family and medical leave protections. Read more..