Many more home healthcare workers to get overtime
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home healthcare workers earning overtime.... Beginning enforcement on November
12, 2015, the DOL will prohibit third party employers, such as homecare agencies,
from claiming the companionship or live-in worker exemptions. The DOL has
revised the definition of “companionship services” to clarify and narrow the
duties that fall within the term. As a result, many more domestic service
workers are protected by FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime provisions.
According to
the DOL, these are the major changes:
• The
tasks that comprise exempt companionship services are more narrowly defined
than in the past.
• The
exemptions for companionship services and live-in domestic service employees
can be claimed only by the individual, family, or household using the services,
rather than by third-party employers
such as home healthcare agencies.
• The
recordkeeping requirements for employers of live-in domestic service employees
are revised
The DOL states
that there are no changes to regulations concerning:
• What
constitutes a private home (the type of residence in which domestic service
occurs)
• Whether
an employment relationship exists
•
Whether an employee is jointly employed by two or more employers
• What
constitutes compensable hours worked