Revision: Dec. 14, 2023, 8:30 a.m.
SB 517 - AS INTRODUCED
2024 SESSION
24-3085
12/05
SENATE BILL 517
AN ACT relative to the employment status of university students working in educational programs.
SPONSORS: Sen. Gannon, Dist 23; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Innis, Dist 7; Sen. Ricciardi, Dist 9; Sen. Gendreau, Dist 1; Rep. Piemonte, Rock. 9; Rep. Hobson, Rock. 14; Rep. O. Ford, Rock. 3; Rep. Weyler, Rock. 14
COMMITTEE: Commerce
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ANALYSIS
This bill adds university students working in educational programs to the definition of employee.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-3085
12/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT relative to the employment status of university students working in educational programs.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Protective Legislation; Procuring Employment, Definition of Employee. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 275:4, II to read as follows:
II. In this subdivision, "employee" means and includes every person who may be permitted, required, or directed by any employer, in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment, but shall not include any person exempted from the definition of employee as stated in RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(2), (3), or (4), or RSA 281-A:2, VII(b), or a person providing services as part of a residential placement for individuals with developmental, acquired, or emotional disabilities, or university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program, or any person who meets all of the following criteria:
2 Protective Legislation; Discrimination in the Workplace, Definitions. Amend RSA 275:36 to read as follows:
275:36 Definitions.
I. "Employee" as used in this subdivision shall mean any person employed for hire by an employer in any lawful employment, but shall not include persons engaged in domestic service in the home of the employer, or in agricultural service, or in temporary or seasonal employment, or employees of any social club, fraternal, charitable, educational, religious, scientific or literary association, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private individual[.]or university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program.
II. "Employer" shall include any person acting in the interest of an employer directly or indirectly.
III. "Employment" means any employment under contract of hire, expressed or implied, written or oral, including all contracts entered into by helpers and assistants of employees, whether paid by employer or employee, if employed with the knowledge, actual or constructive, of the employer in which all or the greater part of the work is to be performed within the state.
3 Protective Legislation; Payment of Wages, Definition of Employee. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 275:42, II to read as follows:
II. "Employee" means and includes every person who may be permitted, required, or directed by any employer, in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment, but shall not include any person exempted from the definition of employee as stated in RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(2), (3), or (4), or RSA 281-A:2, VII(b), or a person providing services as part of a residential placement for individuals with developmental, acquired, or emotional disabilities, or university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program, or any person who meets all of the following criteria:
4 Minimum Wage Law; Definitions. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 279:1, X to read as follows:
X. "Employee" means and includes every person who may be permitted, required, or directed by any employer, in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment, but shall not include any person exempted from the definition of employee as stated in RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(2), (3), or (4), or RSA 281-A:2, VII(b), or a person providing services as part of a residential placement for individuals with developmental, acquired, or emotional disabilities, or university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program, or any person who meets all of the following criteria:
5 Workers' Compensation; Definitions. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 281-A:2, VI(b)(1) to read as follows:
(b)(1) Subject to the preceding subparagraph, any person, other than a direct seller or qualified real estate broker or agent or real estate appraiser, or person providing services as part of a residential placement for individuals with developmental, acquired, or emotional disabilities, who performs services for pay for an employer, or university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program, who performs services for pay for an employer, is presumed to be an employee. This presumption may be rebutted by proof that an individual meets all of the following criteria:
6 Unemployment Compensation; Definitions Individual Service Performed. Amend RSA 282-A:9, IV(g)(2) to read as follows:
(2) Service performed by an individual who is enrolled at a nonprofit or public educational institution which normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are carried on as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit at such institution, which combines academic instruction with work experience, if such service is an integral part of such program, and such institution has so certified to the employer, except that this subparagraph shall not apply to service performed in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers[;] or service performed by university or college students who participate in activities generally recognized as extracurricular, including students serving as residence hall assistants or dormitory counselors, who are participants in a bona fide educational program.
7 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.