Employers should ensure compliance with all relevant provisions of the New Jersey Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (“NJ Bill of Rights”) which went into effect on July 1, 2024, and outlines the rights of domestic workers employed in private households. Specifically, the NJ Bill of Rights provides protections for, and establishes guidelines related to, the hiring of hourly or salaried individuals who work in a residence to provide services such as childcare, care for the elderly or disabled, housekeeping, cooking, food service, parking cars, cleaning, laundry, gardening, personal organizing, or other household duties.
A domestic worker is an hourly or salaried employee, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary, who works in a residence to provide services such as childcare, care for the elderly or disabled, housekeeping, cooking, food service, parking cars, cleaning, laundry, gardening, personal organizing, or other household duties. Note that the term domestic worker explicitly excludes several categories, including: (1) family members; (2) individuals primarily engaged in house sitting, pet sitting, or dog walking; (3) individuals working at a business primarily run from the residence, such as a home day-care business; (4) individuals who primarily work in household repair or maintenance such as roofers, plumbers, or painters; (5) employees of the state or federal government; and (6) kinship legal guardians.
Under the NJ Bill of Rights, employees are entitled to regular pay of at least the state minimum wage. If an employee works over 40 hours per week, that employee is entitled to 1.5 times his/her hourly rate for those hours. Employers must provide up to 40 hours of earned sick leave for employees to care for themselves or loved ones. Additionally, employers must provide their employees with 10-minute paid breaks every four hours and cannot prevent or discourage employees from taking rest breaks, and the employees are entitled to a 30-minute meal break after more than five hours worked consecutively. Employers should not—and cannot, under the law—keep original copies of any personal documents belonging to their employees. At all relevant items, employers must have Workers’ Compensation insurance for their employees, and employees are entitled to at least two weeks’ notice before any termination of employment.
Employers should ensure the proper classification of each employee; if an employee is misclassified as an independent contractor but is actually an employee, or if they are compensated in cash off the books, that worker is still entitled to his/her rights under the New Jersey Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Under New Jersey law, a worker is presumed an employee unless the employer is able to adequately demonstrate that the worker is free from control or direction over the performance of service; that the service provided by the worker is either outside the usual course of the business for which the service is performed or is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise; and that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.
Under the NJ Bill of Rights, employers of domestic workers working five or more hours per month must execute written contracts with their employees; this includes domestic workers such as babysitters and/or nannies who commonly have had informal arrangements with private households, but under the law, will have executed written contracts. Employers are responsible for creating the contracts and cannot retaliate against their employees for requesting a contract. To that end, under the law, workers are also protected under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on various characteristics, including race, nationality, and gender.
To comply with the NJ Bill of Rights, employers should ensure that they are aware of each of the requirements under the law; ensure accurate classification of employees versus independent contractors; have a standard written contract in place for domestic workers with the terms of employment, hours of work, compensation, and responsibilities; ensure recordkeeping of hours worked and wages paid, including any other benefits provided to the employee; provide worker’s compensation coverage and comply with all applicable occupational health and safety standards. If you have any questions about the subject of this article and its implications for your business, please contact your Forework HR representative.