What is a Domestic Worker Agreement?
This template is written for families and domestic or care workers, so that both sides can see what was promised, what it costs, and what happens if circumstances change.
There are 13 fields here, grouped into 5 areas — parties and contact details, scope and deliverables, payment and financial terms, dates, timing and duration, and legal protections and risk. Each is a term that causes argument when left unstated, which is why the generator asks for it rather than leaving a gap in the document.
The written schedule of duties and hours is what settles most disagreements here, which is why it is worth attaching rather than leaving in an inbox. Private agreements between people who trust each other are the ones least likely to be written down and most likely to end a relationship when they go wrong. The written record is the point.
The preview updates live as you complete each field, so you can review the exact language before downloading it as PDF or Word. Treat the result as a well-organised first draft: sound in structure, but worth an attorney's review where the sums involved are significant or the situation is unusual.
What matters most in a domestic worker agreement
Household workers are often employees
Regular nannies and carers usually meet the test for employment, which brings payroll tax, minimum wage and overtime obligations that many families overlook.
Emergency authority and contacts
Record medical consent, emergency contacts, allergies, medication and what the carer is authorised to do in a crisis.
Access, keys and security
Set out key arrangements, alarm codes and the return obligation when the engagement ends.
When you need a domestic worker agreement
- When the parties are in different places: Naming the governing law and the forum in advance prevents a costly preliminary fight about where any dispute is even heard.
- When each pay period matters to someone else: Where a lender, insurer, landlord or regulator will want to see the arrangement, it needs to be written to be read by them, not only by the carer and the family.
- When someone else is paying: Where a third party funds or guarantees the arrangement, they should be named and their obligations spelled out. A guarantee that is only implied is not a guarantee.
- When the payroll, tax and insurance duties that come with employing someone at home has value: Where something is still owed after each pay period, that obligation needs its own words. Anything expected to survive the end of the agreement has to say so.
- When a household worker paid as a contractor when they are an employee is a realistic prospect: If this is the way the arrangement usually goes wrong, it belongs in the document. Allocating that risk in advance is much cheaper than allocating it afterwards.
- When the care work needs defining: Write down what is included and what is not. A specific description is what turns an extra request into a chargeable variation rather than an argument.
What to include in a domestic worker agreement
This generator collects 13 details. Here is what each group covers and why it matters when the document is relied on.
Parties and contact details
These entries decide who can enforce and who can be enforced against. Where either side is a company, use the registered name — a trading name is not a party.
- Party A Name
- The full legal name of the first party. Where a party is a company, name the entity rather than an individual employee.
- Party A Address
- The first party's address for service of notices under the agreement.
- Party B Name
- The full legal name of the second party bound by the agreement.
- Party B Address
- The second party's address for notices and correspondence.
Scope and deliverables
Set out what the carer is delivering and, just as importantly, what is excluded. Most of the cost overruns in this kind of work start as an unstated assumption here.
- Purpose of Agreement
- Why the parties are entering into the agreement. This helps a court interpret ambiguous clauses in line with the parties' actual intent.
- Responsibilities
- What each party must do, provide or approve, allocated by name so no obligation is left unowned.
Payment and financial terms
Say what happens when the family pays late. Without interest and a right for the carer to suspend, the deadline is a suggestion.
- Amount or Property
- A precise description of the money or property being transferred, with quantities and identifying details.
- Payment Terms
- The invoicing cycle, payment window, accepted methods and consequences of non-payment.
Dates, timing and duration
Where the carer depends on the family for something, say what happens to these dates when it arrives late. Otherwise the delay attaches to the wrong party.
- Effective Date
- The date the agreement takes effect. This can differ from the signature date, and it is the date obligations start running from.
- Schedule
- The agreed timetable of dates, sessions or milestones.
- Notice Period
- How much warning a party must give before ending the agreement, and how notice must be delivered to count.
Legal protections and risk
Naming the governing law and the forum here avoids a preliminary fight about where a dispute over the care work is even heard.
- Default Terms
- What counts as a default, any cure period, and the remedies available to the non-defaulting party.
- Governing State
- The state whose law governs the agreement. Choose a state connected to the parties or the work, as a wholly unconnected choice may not be respected.
Completing this domestic worker agreement
Describing the care work
The strongest version of this domestic worker agreement describes the care work in terms someone outside the deal could check — quantities, hours of care, dates and standards. Write it so a reader who was not in the room can tell whether it has been done.
Checking the consents
Where a landlord, lender, insurer or licensing body has to approve the arrangement, obtain that approval before each pay period rather than assuming it will follow as a formality.
Making the counts checkable
Where the price depends on hours of care, keep a contemporaneous record as they are delivered. A count reconstructed at invoice time invites a challenge that a running record would have prevented.
Filling in every blank
Unfilled placeholders are read against whoever produced the document. If a field genuinely does not apply, write "not applicable" rather than leaving a gap.
Defining each pay period
Say what has to be true for each pay period to have happened and who confirms it. An undefined completion test is the reason obligations sit open long after the work is finished.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Letting the care work change without repricing. Where the scope of the care work moves, the price and the timetable should move with it. Absorbing the first few changes sets the expectation that all of them are free.
- No inspection or review window. Give the family a defined period to check the care work and raise problems, with deemed acceptance after it. Otherwise work sits "under review" indefinitely and payment never falls due.
- No cap on liability. An uncapped exposure on a modest fee is a bad trade for the carer. Set a cap that reflects the real value at stake, and carve out the things that should never be capped.
- Relying on memory instead of the written schedule of duties and hours. When a dispute starts, the question is always what was agreed at the time. The written schedule of duties and hours is the record that answers it, so attach it to the agreement rather than keeping it in an inbox.
- Not saying what happens on breach. Distinguish a failure that can be put right within a cure period from one that ends the agreement immediately. Treating both the same way makes the clause unusable.
How to use this domestic worker agreement generator
- Fill in the form. Complete the 13 fields above. The carer and the family both need naming in full, and the care work should be described in enough detail that a stranger could tell whether it had been delivered. Nothing is sent to a server — the document is assembled in your browser.
- Read the preview. The preview updates as you type and is editable, so you can adjust the wording before downloading — useful where a household worker paid as a contractor when they are an employee needs a sentence of its own that the standard clauses do not cover.
- Download and sign. Export as PDF to sign, or as Word to keep working on it. Store the signed version somewhere both the carer and the family can find it, along with the written schedule of duties and hours.
Domestic Worker Agreement — frequently asked questions
Is a nanny an employee or a self-employed contractor?
Almost always an employee. The family sets the hours, directs the work and provides the workplace and equipment, which points firmly to employment — regardless of what the parties call the arrangement or whether the nanny works for other families too. That brings payroll registration, tax withholding, minimum wage and often insurance obligations, and getting it wrong can be costly.
Who should sign the domestic worker agreement?
The carer and the family, through someone with authority to bind them. Where either is a company, that means a director or an officer with delegated authority — a signature from someone without it is a defence waiting to be raised.
How detailed does the domestic worker agreement need to be?
Detailed enough that someone who was not part of the conversation could read it and tell whether each side has done what it promised. That is the standard a court applies, and it is a useful test to run over your own draft before signing.
Which state's law should govern this domestic worker agreement?
Choose a state with a genuine connection to the parties or the subject matter — where a party is based, or where the work or property is located. A choice with no connection at all may not be respected, and for property or employment the local state's rules will often apply regardless of what the contract says.
How is notice properly given under this agreement?
Follow the notice clause exactly: use the stated method, send it to the address named in the agreement, and keep proof of delivery. Notice given informally — a text message, or an email to the wrong person — is frequently challenged, and a defective notice can leave the agreement running on.
What interest rate can I legally charge?
State usury laws set the ceiling, and it varies widely. Some states also treat loans differently depending on whether the lender lends regularly. Check your state's limit before setting a rate, since exceeding it can cost you the interest and occasionally more.
Does this document need to be notarised?
For most private agreements, no — signatures from both parties are enough. Notarisation is worth it for larger sums, anything secured against property, or where you anticipate the document being challenged, because it makes the signature very difficult to deny.
Is this domestic worker agreement free to use?
Yes. Every template on the site is free to complete and download as PDF or Word, with no account, no email address and no payment. There is no premium tier holding back clauses, and you can generate as many versions as you need.