SB 6053 Washington Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Establishing labor protections for domestic workers.

SB 6053 establishes wage and working condition protections for domestic workers in Washington State, directly affecting nannies, home care workers, housekeepers, and similar employees working in private residences. Key provisions require hiring entities (private households or agencies) to provide written agreements detailing pay, hours, benefits, and termination notice (2 weeks for non-live-in workers, 4 weeks for live-in), pay at least the state minimum wage plus overtime for hours over 40, and prohibit wage theft like withholding pay without legal justification. The bill also mandates written notification before termination (with specific exceptions) and requires employers to maintain records for enforcement. These changes apply to domestic workers not performing casual labor or family-related tasks, ensuring clear, enforceable standards for this workforce.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 9, 2026 Last action Feb 26, 2026

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What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 7 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from S-3821.1 to S-4580.1 and updated to reflect its status as a Substitute Bill. The primary substantive change clarifies the definition of 'babysitting' to exclude only irregular, incidental work, thereby bringing regular babysitting under labor protections. Additionally, the bill now explicitly prohibits hiring entities from demanding arbitration clauses, non-disclosure agreements, or non-compete agreements from domestic workers.

Scope change

The scope of the bill was expanded to include regular babysitting, which was previously excluded from the definition of domestic worker, while removing a redundant exemption for casual labor.

DEFINITION

The exclusion for babysitting was changed from 'casual labor' to 'irregular and uncertain basis,' meaning regular babysitting is now covered by the bill's protections.

A redundant exclusion for casual labor was removed from the list of who is not considered a domestic worker.

REQUIREMENT

The prohibition on illegal deductions was clarified to specify that the intent must be to deprive the worker of compensation.

New provisions explicitly ban hiring entities from requiring domestic workers to sign mandatory arbitration clauses, nondisclosure agreements, or noncompete agreements.

ENFORCEMENT

New authority was added for the department to adopt rules establishing additional remedies for violations.

A provision allowing the department to investigate violations occurring more than three years prior to a complaint was removed.

TIMELINE

The deadline for appealing a department citation was clarified to be 30 days from the date of issuance rather than just 30 days.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

Minority; do not pass.

upper

Feb 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce at 10:30 AM.

upper

Jan 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce at 10:30 AM.

upper

1 primary · 11 co-sponsors