The Department of Labor continues carrying out its aggressive regulatory agenda, releasing the much-anticipated final rule extending FLSA minimum wage and overtime protection to direct care workers such as home health aides, personal care aides and certified nursing assistants working for home care agencies and other domestic services employers, and reversing the application of
companionship exemption
Congress Confirms Perez As Secretary of Labor, Employers Brace for Agenda
After an at times testy and contentious confirmation proceeding, on July 18 the United States Senate confirmed President Obama’s nomination of Thomas Perez as the new Secretary of Labor, replacing the departed Hilda Solis. Some Republican Congressmen had questioned Perez’s conduct in a qui tam action in Minnesota. Mr. Perez’s Senate confirmation vote was…
District Court Holds As A Matter of Law That Home Attendants Are Not Jointly Employed By New York City
Allegations of joint employment under the FLSA and other employment laws typically flow from control allegedly exercised by the purported “joint employer” over the primary employer and/or its employees. In a recent opinion rejecting such allegations, Magistrate Judge Joan Azrack of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted summary judgment…
DOL Regulatory Agenda: More Aggressive Activity Expected
With the President’s reelection, and significant new workplace law legislation unlikely given the large, divisive issues plaguing Capitol Hill, employers must remain vigilant in regard to the United States Department of Labor. The DOL is expected to move forward aggressively with regulatory changes to implement its agenda.
Central to the Wage and Hour Division’s…
Jackson Lewis Coverage of President Obama’s Reelection: Wage/Hour Implications
As touched upon in Jackson Lewis’ coverage of the employment law implications of President Obama’s reelection, employers are likely to see a continuation of the Department of Labor’s practices from the past four years during the next four. Per Jackson Lewis partner and former DOL Wage and Hour Administrator Paul DeCamp, these include:
·…
Fifth Circuit Upholds Companionship Exemption, Despite Allegations of General Household Work
The Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Long Island Care at Home v. Coke, confirmed that the companionship exemption to minimum wage and overtime under the FLSA applies to individuals employed by third party agencies who provide companionship services in a private home. Regulations limit this exemption to companions who do not spend more than 20%…
Countering USDOL, Republicans Submit Proposal to Codify Coke Exemption to Overtime for Companions
In an effort to counteract proposed USDOL rulemaking seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Long Island Care at Home v. Coke, in which the Court upheld the exemption’s historic application to individuals employed by third party agencies who provide health care services in a private home (Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. …
Debate Over Proposed Amendment to Homecare Exemption Rages On
The Department of Labor has extended for a second time the deadline for the public to submit comments regarding its proposed rulemaking relating to the “companionship exemption,” which would eviscerate the exemption from minimum wage and overtime applicable to many home care workers as affirmed and addressed by the Supreme Court in 2007. Currently, while…
USDOL To Announce Proposed Domestic Service Rule Expanding Right To Overtime Pay
As we reported here, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor previously announced it would propose a rule regarding the applicability of the companionship exemption to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements. This longstanding exemption was the subject of a rare Supreme Court opinion on FLSA issues, in which the…
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Companionship Exemption Applies to Employee Providing Elder Care in Private Home
As noted in our recent article regarding proposed amendments to the FLSA, individuals providing care to the infirm or elderly in a private home are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements pursuant to the companionship exemption, an exemption which was reviewed by the Supreme Court in its 2007 decision Long Island Care …