Many more home healthcare workers to get overtime
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