New York Household Employers - Alert!

The New York State Senate passed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (S2311D/Savino) making New York the first state in the nation to provide new standards of worker protections for more than 200,000 domestic (household) employees.

It is not a done deal yet - it still needs to go through the reconciliation process, but for all those families paying off the books (if there are 200K NYC area domestics and only 225K families NATIONWIDE paying nanny taxes we know there are MANY off the books) you will now be in more jeopardy of being caught if the employee files a grievance. The NYS legislature probably doesn't realize it but this will be a revenue raising scheme!

The biggest issues this legislation addresses are unpaid overtime (nannies are non-exempt employees under Federal and NYS law and are entitled to an overtime differential) and notice of job ending, or pay in lieu of notice. The former is typically addressed via the State's Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Presumably there might be another grievance channel made available to household employees. The latter - notice of termination or pay in lieu of notice - is not guaranteed or regulated by Federal law for employers with fewer than 100 employees.