Aaron’s Story

Aaron Seyedian, Well Paid Maids
Washington, D.C, Maryland, Virginia

I created Well-Paid Maids to help prove that living-wage businesses can be successful in traditionally low-paying industries.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage for maids and housekeeping cleaners is only $11.43, and many cleaning companies misclassify their employees as contractors, allowing workers to be paid less than the minimum wage while lacking access to sick leave, vacation, unemployment insurance, short-term disability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and health, dental, and vision insurance.

Often, workers must use their own vehicles and supplies, resulting in an extremely low real hourly wage.

With nearly one million people working as maids in our country, Well-Paid Maids aims to support these workers by demonstrating that a living wage is not incompatible with a successful cleaning business. We built a company where we pay all of our workers a living wage and offer a full benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, paid leave, and paid commuting costs. By paying our workers what they deserve, you can expect your home to be excellently serviced by the happiest maids in the industry.

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, I have been forced to furlough all my staff. We are letting our team draw down their PTO, then giving a $500 bonus to float them until UI kicks in, and we are going to pay their health, dental, vision, and short-term disability insurance premiums for as long as we can while we are shutdown.

But we can’t do this long term. We need federal action, and we need it now.