GTM’s Household Employment Blog
California Permits 90 Day Waiting Period for Health Care Coverage
As of January 1, 2015 California employers (including household employers) will be able to impose a waiting period for new employee health coverage of up to 90 calendar days. A waiting period is the amount of days before new employees are eligible to participate in an...
FLSA Rules for Domestic Workers
As a household employer, you have likely heard about the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). What is the FLSA and what are the FLSA rules for domestic workers? The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor laws affecting full- and...
Does My Nanny Have to Pay Taxes?
A nanny or other employee who works in your home is responsible for reporting and paying required payroll taxes. It is worth making sure that they are aware of their responsibilities at the start of employment, if they do not already know. As a nanny, or other...
Massachusetts Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights
The Massachusetts Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights was signed into law in July, making Massachusetts the fourth state in the country to provide protections for nannies, housekeepers, and other domestic employees. While most provisions of the new law do not take effect...
Minnesota Minimum Wage Increase
The Minnesota minimum wage increase takes effect tomorrow, August 1, 2014. This is the first of several planned increases over the next two years. For large employers (businesses with $500,000 or more in gross annual sales) the minimum wage will increase to $8.00 an...
Nanny Policies: Discipline and Severance
Two nanny policies that commonly arise during the employment relationship are that of disciplining an employee, and whether or not to provide severance pay should a nanny quit or be terminated. While household employment is largely at-will employment in most states,...
Penalties for Violating Wage and Hour Laws
Ensuring fair compensation is one of the keys to retaining a nanny or other household employee. To combat the double threat of an employee feeling underpaid or being pursued by another family, employers must make sure that their employees are paid for all hours...
Work Agreement Benefits
A work agreement benefits both the employer and nanny; it helps establish clear standards, rules, and procedures for the household and for the job. From listing the hours the nanny is expected to work and what his or her salary is, to explaining what a nanny must do...
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