Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Domestic Workers Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Domestic‑worker groups urge $500,000 annual funding to sustain outreach and enforcement training
Summary
Advocates testified in favor of SB 14‑28 to reauthorize and expand a Connecticut Department of Labor domestic‑workers education and training grant program, reporting thousands reached and citing persistent wage theft and workplace injuries among domestic workers.
Domestic workers and community organizations urged passage of SB 14‑28, which would appropriate $500,000 in FY26 and $500,000 in FY27 to continue and expand a Connecticut Department of Labor domestic workers education and training grant program. Speakers described outreach, "Know Your Rights" workshops, casework for wage theft and worker abuse complaints, and referral pathways to legal services.
Neli Jara of Connecticut Worker Center and Tatiana Bejar of the National Domestic Workers Alliance described the program's achievements: thousands of workers reached with Know‑Your‑Rights materials, hundreds of workshops, and dozens of supported enforcement actions. Workers who testified recounted wage theft and physical injuries at work; Patricia Zavaleta described unpaid hours and an employer who failed to pay 90 owed hours until the worker obtained assistance from the center and filed a complaint.
Advocates said the initial program relied on ARPA or limited term funds that will expire in June 2025; they urged ongoing state funding to maintain outreach, investigator capacity at the Department of Labor, and employer education. Witnesses also described the difficulty of reaching domestic workers who operate in private homes and often lack HR structures and urged continued community‑based partnerships for effective enforcement.
Committee members acknowledged the program's results and asked for data on how many workers and employers were served; witnesses pointed staff to the program's outreach metrics (several thousand workers reached, several hundred trained educators) and emphasized that enforcement capacity at DOL must rise in tandem with outreach funding.
Ending: The committee requested written documentation of program outcomes and a coordination plan with DOL to ensure funding would be used for outreach, investigator support, and legal referral networks.
