SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 723

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 1, 2022

      The Senate Labor Committee reports favorably, with committee amendments, Senate Bill No. 723.

      This bill creates various rights and employment protections for domestic workers.  The bill:

      1.   removes the exclusion of domestic workers from the "Law Against Discrimination," P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.) and the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.);

      2.   prohibits employers from keeping original copies of personal documents of domestic workers and from making certain intrusions against the privacy rights to domestic workers;

      3.   requires the employer or hiring entity to enter into a written contract with the domestic worker and prohibits the contract from including non-disclosure provisions, restrictive covenants, or mandatory arbitration provisions;

      4.   sets requirements for uninterrupted rest and meal break times;

      5.   limits to six the number of consecutive days an employer may require a “live-in” domestic worker to work;

      6.   requires employers to provide domestic workers with a notification of their rights under the bill;

      7.   establishes penalties for violations of its provisions, including penalties against retaliation by the employer or hiring entity; and

      8.   creates the Domestic Workers Standards and Implementation Board to monitor and review the implementation of the bill and make policy recommendations to the State regarding additional measures to be taken.

      The bill defines domestic workers as hourly and salaried employees, independent contractors, full-time and part-time individuals, and temporary individuals, each one of whom works for one or more employers, and works in residence caring for a child; serving as a companion or caretaker for a sick, convalescing, elderly, or disabled person; housekeeping or house cleaning; cooking; providing food or butler service; parking cars; cleaning laundry; gardening; personal organizing; or for any other domestic service purpose.  The bill’s definition of domestic worker excludes any individual providing care services for a family member of the individual; an individual primarily engaged in house sitting, pet sitting, or dog walking; an individual working at a business operating out of a residence; an individual whose primary work involves house repair or maintenance; a home health care aide paid through Medicare or Medicaid; an individual who is a kinship legal guardian of a child, an individual participating in the Kinship Navigator Program; and an individual less than 18 years of age.

      The amendments adopted by the committee:

      1.   update the effective dates of certain provisions in the bill;

      2.   replace certain references to “hiring entity” with “employer”;

      3.   remove an exclusion from the definition of “domestic worker” to ensure that all home care workers are covered, regardless of whether or not they serve consumers who are Medicaid or Medicare recipients;

      4.   remove language that amends the workers’ compensation law to apply the “ABC” test of the unemployment compensation law for determining who is an independent contractor to workers’ compensation;

      5.   apply all applicable occupational standards adopted under the federal “Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,” to domestic workers employed by individuals in their residences; and

      6.   make minor technical amendments.