Disrupting Human Trafficking - Session 3-2 : The Need for Equal Protection of the Law for Delaware's Farm Domestic Workers

Presented by Commissioner Mary McDonough (Ret). and Charito Calvachi-Mateyko Session Description: Since the Delaware Department of Labor (DOL) was established in 1961, it has lacked the authority to enforce worker protection laws on behalf of agriculture and domestic workers. The DE Code (Title 19, Chapter 1), carves out exemptions for these categories of workers from the enforcement powers of DOL. No good reason exists to deny equal protection of the laws, including minimum wage and employment discrimination protections, to farm and domestic workers. Many, if not most, Delawareans are unaware of this disparity in the Delaware Code. An extensive public awareness effort, combined with community organizing, is needed to bring about change in this longstanding State law. It is a matter of basic fairness that farm and domestic workers should be treated like all other workers in the State. They should be able to turn to DOL for enforcement of fair hour and wage claims, along with other basic worker protection laws. A secondary benefit of an Equal Protection for Farm & Domestic Workers bill is that DOL could serve as a helpful partner in any joint criminal investigations, handled primarily by state and/or federal law enforcement if alleged labor trafficking arose. On the national level, farm and domestic work are two sectors of the labor market particularly prone to the abuses of labor trafficking. A summary of the community outreach efforts, to date, on an Equal Protection for Farm & Domestic Workers bill will be provided along with a discussion about the next steps forward in this effort.