‘Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights’ Now in Effect

On Jul 2, 2024

The state’s “Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights” went into effect today and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has outlined the provisions of this law on its website, serving as a resource for both domestic workers and their employers.

Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in January, the bill establishes a broad range of rights and employment protections, such as anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rights, privacy rights, and written contract requirements for domestic workers that provide in-home services to private households, including childcare, house cleaning, care for elderly or disabled individuals, cooking, and more. Domestic workers can be hired directly by a household or an agency.

“The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights recognizes the invaluable contributions domestic workers make to families and communities,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “This law is a crucial step to ensuring the fair wages, safe working conditions, and dignity every worker deserves, and to empowering those who are often overlooked yet play an essential role in the daily lives of others.”

Domestic workers have new protections, regardless of their immigration status, including:

1. The right to breaks, privacy, safety, and more.
2. Protection from discrimination and harassment on the basis of a protected status such as race or sex under the Law Against Discrimination.
3. A written contract with their employer(s). The written contract requirement does not apply if the domestic worker works less than five hours per month and, also, does not apply if the domestic worker is engaged in what the law refers to as “casual work;” which is work that is “irregular, uncertain, or incidental in nature and duration, and different in nature from the type of paid work in which the worker is customarily engaged.”
4. Coverage under Workers’ Compensation, Unemployment Insurance, and Temporary Disability & Family Leave Insurance.

Private households who pay a domestic worker for services in their home are likely now considered an employer, and must inform the domestic worker, their employee, of their new rights. This could include a household that contracts with an employment agency for domestic services and where both the agency and the household, together, determine the terms of employment with the worker, such as schedule, pay, days off, breaks, etc. Private households which contract with an agency for services, but do not handle the employment terms, may not be considered employers. Employers with overlapping employment relationships with another hiring entity are jointly and severally liable for violations of the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights.

If a domestic employer has an employee who works five or more hours per month and is not engaged in “casual work,” the domestic employer must create a written contract with their employee, in the employee’s language. Employers can find a model contract here.

If a domestic employer paid their employee more than $1,000 in either 2023 or 2024, they must:

1. Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
2. Register for NJ payroll taxes and make contributions starting July 1, 2024.
3. Get Worker’s Compensation Insurance.

If employers don’t comply, they could face consequences, including financial penalties. It is unlawful to retaliate against a worker who exercises their rights.

Further details are available at nj.gov/labor/domesticworkers.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

Related Articles: