In 2013 the Department of Labor announced new regulatory language that substantially limited the scope of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s companionship exemption. Those regulations, of course, were challenged through litigation which remains ongoing, and their implementation by the USDOL was delayed until many months after the original effective date of January 1, 2015. Though
new rule
Ohio Federal Court Rules Home Care Agency Not Required To Pay Overtime To “Companions” During Temporary Vacatur Of New Federal Rules
Providing much needed guidance to industry employers still wrestling with fallout from the United States Department of Labor’s drastic reduction to the scope of the companionship exemption, District Court Judge Sandra S. Beckwith held this week that a home care agency properly relied on the temporary vacatur of the DOL’s new federal regulations in…
Home Care Fallout: Increased Institutionalization?
Five days into the DOL’s enforcement of the new rule rendering most home health aides eligible for overtime under the FLSA, questions abound regarding how state Medicaid and Medicare-funded programs will comply with the rule within their current budgets. One new report cautions consumers of home health care and their advocates to be aware…
DOL Enforcement of Home Care Rule to Commence November 12, Subject to “Prosecutorial Discretion”
Chief Justice Roberts’ denial of the Home Care Association of America’s request for stay of issuance of mandate confirms that the new rule rendering many home health aides overtime-eligible is effective, pending appeal. In response to that denial, Wage-and-Hour Administrator David Weil issued a new policy statement confirming that the Department’s “non-enforcement period” for the…
DC Judge Invalidates Home Care Rule
Last evening, the Home Care Association of America followed in the footsteps of the Mortgage Bankers Association, obtaining a ruling that the DOL’s reversal of its position regarding the exempt status of agency-employed “companions” violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Home Care Ass’n of Am. v. Weil, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176307 (D.D.C. Dec.…