For Immediate Release:
July 9, 2026
Contact: Niki Seligman, Communications Director| nseligman@workingwa.org
Adult Family Home Workers Win Labor Rights Fight
Employers can no longer exploit workers in dangerous jobs just because they live where they work
Olympia, WA – Today, the Washington Supreme Court announced a ruling granting the right to fair pay and safe workplaces to tens of thousands of the mostly-immigrant care workers who protect and care for our elderly and disabled loved ones.
Fair Work Center, on behalf of workers, argued in the case of Bolina et al v. Assurecare, LLC, that it is unconstitutional to exclude live-in caregivers, who work in one of the most dangerous occupations nationally, from minimum wage rights just because they live where they work. The exclusion stems from a shameful tradition in the United States of denigrating domestic work and explicitly excluding work performed by non-white, non-male identifying people from foundational labor laws. Today’s ruling means that the corporations that own these care homes can no longer subject workers to conditions—wages on the order of a few dollars per hour, no breaks, and no access to sick leave—that would be illegal in most other places.
The Case
Fair Work Center represented six workers formerly employed by several Adult Family Homes (AFHs) run by Assurecare. The workers—Ms. Bolina, Mr. Payag, Ms. Ocampo, Ms. Robles, Mr. Castillo, and Mr. Villalobos—came to Fair Work Center in 2022 with horrific reports of workers’ rights abuses. The workers often cared for people through 24-hour shifts, without uninterrupted breaks or sleep, resulting in injuries and infections like COVID-19. The impact of these injuries and illnesses was compounded by their lack of access to sick leave. For this backbreaking labor, caregivers were paid a flat daily rate, regardless of the number of hours they worked, which amounted to as little as four dollars per hour with no overtime pay.
These conditions are common for live-in caregivers working in adult family homes. Though Washington is, in many ways, a national leader in protecting workers’ rights, the backbone of our state’s labor laws (the Minimum Wage Requirement and Labor Standards Act, also known as the MWA) is fundamentally shaped by flawed federal laws.
What This Legal Victory Means
Employers can no longer withhold the important health and safety protections provided by the Minimum Wage Act from workers in jobs that are dangerous just because they live where they work.
The case will now go back to the trial court to determine damages and next steps for caregivers. Depending on what the trial court decides, we could see unpaid wages retroactively paid to the hardworking people in this case and workers in similar situations across the state.
This decision will have a profound impact on live-in caregivers in adult family homes and shows what is possible when workers organize for their rights.
Comments from legal experts are included below. Contact Niki Seligman to arrange an interview.
From Emily Grove, Fair Work Center Managing Attorney: “Fair Work Center is proud to have worked alongside our clients to challenge an exclusion in the Minimum Wage Act that robbed live-in workers of many wage and hour protections. Such exclusions did not happen by accident. They were rooted in the deliberate exclusion of Black workers, Brown workers, immigrant workers, and women from many of our nation's foundational labor laws. Today’s decision is a meaningful step toward ending the racist exclusion of domestic workers from basic employment protections.”
From Danielle Alvarado, Executive Director of Fair Work Center and Working Washington: "Care work makes all other work possible, and today the people behind that work are finally getting some of the protections they deserve. This victory brings us closer to a Washington where all jobs are respected and all workers are treated with dignity."
XXXX