Home Care Workers are Now Entitled to Overtime
Beginning on November 12, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) will begin enforcing a new rule that employers must pay minimum wage and overtime to certain home care workers. Historically, home care workers were exempt from overtime rules and were traditionally paid on a salary or per patient basis regardless of the amount of time spent working. Now, individuals who provide companionship services or live-in care services for the elderly, ill or disabled will have to be paid overtime for every overtime hour they work.
On October 13, 2015, a Federal Court of Appeals upheld the DOL’s new rule, and the DOL has announced that it will begin enforcing the rule as early as November 12, 2015. If you are either a home care worker or an employer of home care workers, you should seek the advice of counsel regarding these new rules.
