New Jersey Household Employees Gain Protections with Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights

Jan 19, 2024 | Domestic Workers' Rights, Labor Laws, Newsworthy

The New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, recently signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, provides a range of rights and employment protections for household employees including wage protections, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rights, health and safety protections, and privacy rights.

The New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, recently signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, provides a range of rights and employment protections for household employees including wage protections, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rights, health and safety protections, and privacy rights. It will take effect in July 2024.

Read the New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act.

Here are some of the new domestic worker protection requirements for employers.

Work agreements

Families that employ household help will be required to enter into a written agreement or nanny contract with any employee who works more than five hours a month. The contract will need to document work hours, wages, and duties.

The law also expands on the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements for domestic workers to include non-compete agreements, which generally bar workers from seeking similar work from a different employer for a period of years.

Meal and rest breaks

Household employees are now required to receive:

At least one paid 10-minute break for every four consecutive hours of work
A 30-minute lunch break unless the nature of the work precludes such breaks
One day off after six days of work.

Wage protections

While most household employees are already entitled to minimum wage and overtime, this new law removes the exclusion for part-time babysitters working in the employer’s home. New Jersey’s minimum wage is $13.93/hour for employers with fewer than six workers. For those above that threshold, it’s $15.13/hour.

Termination notice

Employers will need to give at least two weeks’ notice before terminating a household employee and four weeks for a live-in employee, with exceptions for employee misconduct.

Privacy rights

Under the new law, household employers are barred from keeping copies of a worker’s personal documents and observing or recording them in bathrooms, their living quarters, and while dressing.

Anti-harassment and retaliation protections

Household employees will now receive protection against threats due to their immigration status, and retaliation from an employer when they assert their rights.

Notice of rights

The law also establishes penalties for violations of its provisions and requires household employers to provide a notice to their employees about their rights.

Domestic Workers Standards and Implementation Board

New Jersey will form the Domestic Workers Standards and Implementation Board to track the bill’s implementation and make policy recommendations.

Domestic worker protections in the U.S.

New Jersey becomes the 11^th state with a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. The cities of Chicago; Philadelphia; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. have also enacted domestic worker protections.