Recently, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act. This bill outlines a number of employment protections regarding contracts, wages, breaks, privacy and more. It is crucial that all employers in the state review the bill carefully, ideally with their lawyer, and make sure they are in compliance.
Read more on our partner GTM’s website.
Key Takeaways
We’ve included a few key takeaways but if you employ staff in New Jersey, we highly recommend you review the full bill, as well as our partner GTM’s breakdown of it. We have used GTM’s extremely useful post as source material for much of what we share here.
Written contracts are required.
We recommend this for all states and situations, whether legally required or not. The new bill ensures that this is now a requirement for those employed in New Jersey. Make sure you have contracts with all employees that includes hours, compensation, and a summary of duties. We’ve included some sample contracts below if you need help getting started. We recommend having your lawyer review any documents before sharing with your employee.
Breaks and days off are mandatory.
Domestic staff are entitled to at least one paid 10-minute break for every four hours of work. They cannot be required to work more than 6 consecutive days without a full day off.
Termination notice must be given.
Employers 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 must be respected.
Employers are not allowed to record employees in bathrooms, their living quarters, or while dressing.
Violations are subject to fines.
Violations of the new law will result in penalties issued by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development ranging from $975 to $13,653.
Read the full bill on New Jersey’s State Legislature Website.