During a House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing – Redefining Companion Care: Jeopardizing Access to Affordable Care for Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities – panelists and lawmakers highlighted problems that await home care providers, workers, and care recipients when the Department of Labor’s new home care rule takes effect in January 2015.  Issued in September, the final rule eliminates the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime exemption for home care workers employed by home care agencies and other companies.  This rule also significantly narrows the exemption for home care workers employed directly by the individuals or families receiving home care services. 

Subcommittee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) said that he has asked the DOL for a justification for this rule, but has yet to receive any.  He claimed the rule imposes “rigid and arbitrary” requirements on home care providers, and creates more hardship than benefits. 

According to witness Lucy Andrews, Vice Chair of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, most home care agencies already pay their employees a rate exceeding the minimum wage, and the rule’s overtime requirement will result in these employees being paid less than before.  Andrews explained that home care agencies will need to restrict working hours or charge their care recipients more.  Coupled with the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate – the implementation of which will coincide with the home care rule’s effective date – the new rule’s requirements will create “a perfect storm” for home care agencies. Continue reading this entry at Littler's DC Employment Law Update.