Bill Text: NJ S3356 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends "Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act" to exclude full-time students and au pairs from definition of domestic worker and remove joint and several liability provision from law.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-03 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee [S3356 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3356-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Amends "Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act" to exclude full-time students and au pairs from definition of domestic worker and remove joint and several liability provision from law.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning domestic workers and amending P.L.2023, c.262.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ) is amended to read as follows:
2. As used in P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ):
"Au pair" means a young adult from overseas who lives with a family on a legal visa and through a federally regulated program for up to two years and provides childcare in exchange for a weekly stipend, room and board.
"Casual work" means work that is:
(1) irregular, uncertain, or incidental in nature and duration; and
(2) different in nature from the type of paid work in which the worker is customarily engaged.
"Domestic services" means services of a household nature and performed by an individual in or about a private home on a permanent or temporary basis, and includes services performed by a domestic worker.
"Domestic worker" or "worker" means hourly and salaried employees, full-time and part-time individuals and temporary individuals and is narrowly construed to mean any worker who:
(1) works for one or more employers; and
(2) is an individual who works in residence for the purposes of providing any of the following services: caring for a child; serving as a companion or caretaker for a sick, convalescing, or elderly person, or a person with a disability; housekeeping or house cleaning; cooking; providing food or butler service; parking cars; cleaning laundry; gardening; personal organizing, or for any other domestic service purpose; provided that the term domestic worker does not include:
(a) A family member, with "family member" meaning a spouse, child, parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, first cousin, grandparent, grandchild, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister, whether the individual is related by blood, marriage, or adoption;
(b) An individual primarily engaged in house sitting, pet sitting, or dog walking;
(c) An individual working at a business operated primarily out of the residence, such as a home day-care business;
(d) An individual whose primary work involves household repair or maintenance, such as a roofer, plumber, mason, painter or other
similar contractor;
(e) An employee of the State or the United States; [or]
(f) An individual established as a kinship legal guardian, as defined by section 2 of P.L.2001, c.250 (C.3B:12A-2), of a child who lives in the residence, or an individual who participates in the Kinship Navigator Program, as authorized by the Department of Children and Families, as a caregiver of a child who lives in the residence and receives services provided by a kinship navigator service provider;
(g) An individual who is a full-time student in primary school, secondary school, high school, vocational school, college, or other post-secondary educational institution; or
(h) an au pair.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Employment agency" means any person or entity that procures, or attempts to procure, any workers for referral to a third party.
"Hiring entity" means any employer, as defined in section 1 of P.L.1965, c.173 (C.34:11-4.1), who employs a domestic worker, and also means any person, firm, business, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or other entity, including referral, employment, and internet based or on-demand platforms, that provides compensation directly or indirectly to a domestic worker for the performance of domestic services and any person or persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of the employer in relation to the domestic worker.
"Live-in domestic worker" includes any individuals, who, as part of their employment, reside in the personal residence of the employer.
"Referral agency" means any person or entity that procures, or attempts to procure, directly or indirectly through placement in a physical or virtual labor pool:
(1) employees; and
(2) after the procurement does not continue involvement in the terms of exchange of domestic services with the employees in any way, with the exception of the following:
(a) continuing to display or host or advertise, either through physical means or virtual means, the workers' contact information, job qualifications, resume, image, or digital profile which employers or clients can use to independently contact employees about employment; or
(b) removing, either through physical means or virtual means, the workers' contact information, job qualifications, resume, image, or digital profile which employers or clients can use to independently contact employees, upon the mandate of any federal, State, or local laws.
"Remuneration for work" means compensation due to the work of a domestic worker, payable in legal tender of the United States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value, subject to any deductions, charges, or allowances as may be permitted by rules of the department.
"Written" or "writing" means a printed or printable communication in physical or electronic form, including a communication that is transmitted through email, text message, or a computer system, or is otherwise sent and maintained electronically.
(cf: P.L.2023, c.262, s.2)
2. Section 21 of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ) is amended to read as follows:
21. a. [Individuals and employers with an overlapping employment relationship with a domestic worker are subject to joint and several liability, and concurrent fines and penalties, in connection with P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).] Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill)
b. A domestic worker or other person representing a domestic worker may report to the department any suspected violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ).
c. The department shall take any steps as it deems appropriate to resolve complaints and enforce P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), including, but not limited to, establishing a system to receive complaints regarding noncompliance with P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), investigating alleged violations in a timely manner and resolving complaints through a separate "referral" process for claims of domestic workers.
d. The department shall have the power to subpoena records and testimony from any party to a complaint. The records shall be provided to the department within 30 days after receipt of the subpoena.
e. Any person alleging a violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ) shall file a complaint with the department within two years of the date that the person knew or should have known of the alleged violation.
f. Upon establishment of a system of administrative adjudication, the department shall have the power to impose the penalties and fines for a violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), and to provide or obtain appropriate relief. Remedies may include reinstatement and full restitution to the domestic worker for lost wages and benefits, including presumed damages to be awarded to a domestic worker for the hiring entity's or employer's violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ). The department shall determine by regulation an amount of presumed damages.
g. A hiring entity or an employer who knowingly retaliates against an employee for any activity protected under P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), or any other knowing violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. , shall be a crime of the fourth degree. Otherwise, it shall be a disorderly persons offense and the hiring entity or employer shall, upon conviction for a violation, be punished by a fine of not less than $100 not more than $2,000 for an initial violation and not less than $200 nor more than $4,000 for each subsequent violation. Each day during which any violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ) continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense, and the employment of any domestic worker in violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), shall, with respect to each domestic worker employed, constitute a separate and violation.
h. Any domestic worker or person who is aggrieved by a violation of P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ), or the department may bring civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against a hiring entity or an employer violating P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ). Nothing in P.L.2023, c.262 (C. ) or its implementing regulations shall be construed to require a complaint to be filed with the department before bringing an action in court. Upon prevailing in an action brought pursuant to this section, an aggrieved person shall be entitled to any legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation, that is not duplicative of any relief provided to the person in administrative proceedings, including, without limitation, reinstatement in employment, back pay, and injunctive relief. The aggrieved person shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
(cf: P.L.2023, c.262, s.21)
3. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2024.
STATEMENT
This bill modifies the "Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act," P.L.2023, c.262. The bill changes the definition of domestic worker to exclude:
(1) any full-time student in primary school, secondary school, high school, vocational school, college, or other post-secondary educational institution from the law's provisions; and
(2) an au pair.
Under the bill, au pair is defined as a young adult from overseas who lives with a family on a legal visa and through a federally regulated program for up to two years and provides childcare in exchange for a weekly stipend, room and board.
Current law provides that individuals and employers with an overlapping employment relationship with a domestic worker are subject to joint and several liability, and concurrent fines and penalties, for violations of the "Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act." The bill removes the joint and several liability provision from current law.
