Domestic Worker’s Bill
4/16/2025
The Third Circuit recently upheld a whopping $7M+ award against a home healthcare company and its owner because the company had failed to pay employees for travel time to client homes, time during short breaks of twenty minutes or less, and overtime and because of its inadequate recordkeeping of time worked. Sec’y United States Dep’t of Lab. v. Nursing Home Care Mgmt. Inc. 2025 WL 351599 (3d Cir. Jan. 31, 2025). The case began when the U.S. Department of Labor (“USDOL”) conducted a fairly narrow audit of the business, identified some relatively trivial infractions, and then expanded the scope of its review.
This case is a powerful reminder of some very basic wage and hour rules.
Employers also to have be mindful of compliance with state wage and hour and workplace laws, which often vary from federal law. If the home healthcare company in this lawsuit had employed aides in New Jersey, for example, it also would have had to comply with the recently enacted New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights (“DWBR”). The DWBR requires employers to notify all domestic workers of their rights, and to provide employees who work more than five hours per month a written contract in English and their preferred language detailing their job duties, hourly and overtime wages, work schedule, pay method and frequency, benefits, breaks, paid holidays, paid or unpaid leave, modes of transportation and housing (if applicable), the term and duration of their contract, and any other agreed upon terms and conditions of employment. The DWBR prohibits these contracts from mandating arbitration and subjecting employees to restrictive covenants, including non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-disparagement agreements. The DWBR further requires employers to provide workers’ compensation insurance, maintain records of hours worked and the accrual and use of leave, and give notice prior to termination under certain circumstances. For those employers who have paid a domestic worker $1,000.00 or more within the past year, there are additional registration, recordkeeping, and tax obligations.
Jay Sabin
Member
Labor and Employment, Cannabis Industry
917.596.8987 · 973.618.5907 Fax
jsabin@bracheichler.com
Ashley L. Matias
Associate
Labor and Employment
973-364-8330 · 973-618-5997 Fax
amatias@bracheichler.comMore Litigation, Labor and Employment…
