DEPARTMENT OF LABOR EXTENDS FLSA REQUIREMENTS TO IN-HOME HEALTH CARE WORKERS

 

On September 17, 2013, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule which limits the "companionship exemption" of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and extends additional minimum wage and overtime protections to an estimated two million direct care workers, including personal caregivers, home health aides and certified nursing assistants.

Hardest hit by the Final Rule will be home health care staffing agencies and similar health care business. This is because the Final Rule, which becomes effective on January 1, 2015, does not allow third-party employers to claim the FLSA’s companionship services or live-in domestic service employee exemptions.

Generally, the FLSA requires that all hourly non-exempt employees be paid at least the minimum wage and overtime for hours worked beyond the forty hour work week. However, the law provided an exemption for domestic service workers hired for "companionship services" and such workers were not required to be paid the minimum wage or overtime. Likewise, the exemption did not require live-in domestic service workers to be paid overtime.

The Final Rule clarifies that direct care workers who perform medically-related services for which training is typically a prerequisite are not companionship workers and therefore are entitled to the minimum wage and overtime. And, in accordance with Congress' initial intent, individual workers who are employed only by the person receiving services or that person's family or household and engaged primarily in fellowship and protection (providing company, visiting or engaging in hobbies) and care incidental to such activities, will still be considered exempt from the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime protections.

Because home healthcare agencies will no longer be able to claim the exemption, such business will have to review and revise their payroll and time-keeping practices and procedures to be in compliance with the FLSA.

For Further information, the Department of Labor has proved answers to frequently asked questions on the Final Rule.

Mark Fijman is a labor and employment attorney with Phelps Dunbar, LLP, which has offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and London. To view his firm bio, click here. He can be reached at (601) 360-9716 and by e-mail at fijmanm@phelps.com.