New Jersey live-in chefs: overtime, the contract and notice

A briefing for households in New Jersey and the business managers who look after them.

Dylan Bliss, Founder · Reviewed 21 October 2026 · In force from 1 July 2024

New Jersey brought household workers inside its wage laws with the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which has been in force since 1 July 2024. For a household that employs a chef who lives in the home, three things follow: overtime after forty hours in a week, a written contract before the work begins, and four weeks’ notice before the role ends. Federal law exempts a live-in domestic worker from overtime, and California counts a live-in’s overtime by the day rather than the week, so a household that has employed a chef elsewhere may expect different rules here.

Overtime after forty hours

A chef in New Jersey is paid one and a half times the regular rate for every hour past forty in a week. The state’s overtime rule lists its exceptions by name, and a live-in or domestic worker is not among them. The 2024 Act also removed the older wording that left domestic service in a private home outside the wage laws, so a chef who lives in is covered in the same way as one who goes home each evening.

The exception that remains is for a role that is genuinely executive, administrative or professional. A chef whose days are spent cooking for the family rarely fits it, whatever the salary, so the sound plan is to count the hours and pay overtime on them.

All the time a chef is required to be on duty counts as hours worked. Food and lodging the household provides form part of the chef’s wages at their fair value, which is why the contract records the value of the room.

The written contract

Unless the work is casual or under five hours a month, the engagement must be governed by a written contract, signed and dated by everyone after a fair chance to review it. It covers:

the duties of the role, the hourly wage and the overtime wage;
the weekly schedule and the number of hours;
how and how often the chef is paid;
rest and meal breaks, leave including sick time, paid holidays and any other benefits;
any travel the role requires and whether it is provided;
the value of the housing, and for a live-in the sleeping period and personal time;
the term of the contract.

The contract is written in English and in the chef’s preferred language, and the household makes a reasonable effort to find out which that is. It may not require arbitration of the chef’s claims, and it may not use a confidentiality, non-compete or non-disparagement clause to limit the chef’s work for other households after the role ends. A household that values its privacy should have its adviser draft that clause with this rule in mind.

The working day

Breaks. A paid rest of at least ten minutes for every four consecutive hours, and a thirty-minute meal break after more than five. The meal break is paid unless the chef is free of all duties and free to leave the house.
A day of rest. A live-in chef is not required to work more than six days in a row for the same household without a rest of twenty-four hours, which may be unpaid.
Records. The household keeps a record of hours worked, pay, breaks and leave, and of the written contract.
Privacy. Cameras and recordings stay out of the chef’s living quarters and bathroom, the chef’s private communications are their own, and the household does not hold the chef’s original personal documents.

When a role ends

A live-in chef is owed four weeks’ notice before the employment ends; a chef who lives out is owed two. Where notice is short, the chef is paid for the weeks that were missed at their regular hours. The household may end the role without full notice if it believes in good faith that the chef has abused, neglected or otherwise harmed a member of the household, or if the chef has fulfilled the duties of the role and there is no longer a practical need for it.

Before a chef starts

Agree the weekly schedule first, then set the salary on those hours with the overtime written in.
Put the contract in writing, in both languages where the chef prefers another, and give the chef time to read it before signing.
Ask your payroll provider to track hours and breaks from the first week.

When you are ready to begin a search, tell us about your household.

This briefing is general information, not legal advice. Your payroll provider or employment adviser should confirm how these rules apply to your household.