# 119-s-4081: Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act

119-s-4081, Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] (D-WA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4081
- As of: 2026-07-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4081
- Congress: 119
- Title: Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-03-12
- Sponsor: Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] (D-WA)
- Cosponsors: 21
- Policy area: Labor and Employment
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-25

## Summary

**Tightening wage protections for home care workers.** This bill would narrow the Fair Labor Standards Act's domestic service exemption so it covers only casual babysitting and explicitly excludes trained professional caregivers from that exemption. - Families and household employers would face a narrower exemption. Workers who qualify as trained caregivers would no longer be treated as casual babysitters for wage and overtime rules. - Home care workers and trained professionals such as home health aides and nurses would be excluded from the babysitting exemption, making them subject to FLSA minimum wage and overtime protections rather than exempt status. - Casual babysitters would remain the core exempt category, but "casual basis" would be defined by the Secretary and incidental non-babysitting household tasks could not exceed 20% of total babysitting hours.

## Cosponsors (21)

- Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ] (D-NJ), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL] (D-IL), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (D-IL), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY] (D-NY), 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD] (D-MD), 2026-03-25T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT), 2026-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-06-15T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Tighter pay rules for home caregivers: mixed, medium. This bill would narrow which household workers are exempt from minimum wage and overtime. It would limit the exemption so it only covers casual babysitting, meaning custodial care of children in their private home. The bill would define "casual basis" as irregular or intermittent work not done by s…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act
- 119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act
- 119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026
- 119-s-1503: Equality Act
- 119-s-852: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-4081 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4081)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3869)
- [119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-51)
- [119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5108)
- [119-s-1503: Equality Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1503)
- [119-s-852: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-852)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4081 (as of 2026-07-25).