As the home care industry awaits the release of a major final rule reinstating the companionship exemption — allowing home care agencies to exempt companion care workers from overtime and minimum wage requirements — a new ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit supports the Department of Labor’s pending regulation.
The decision in the case, DOL versus Americare Healthcare Services Inc., found that Americare was obligated to pay its employees overtime. The ruling was based on a 2013 DOL rule that determined that third-party employers could not claim exemptions from overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The case dates back to October 2021, when the DOL sued Americare for failing to properly compensate its home care workers between October 2018 and October 2021. Americare provides services to elderly or disabled clients through state Medicaid waiver programs in Ohio. All of its workers are live-in caregivers, and between 95 and 99.9 percent of them are employed to care for their own family members, according to the court filing.
While the Trump administration now is aiming to reverse the 2013 rule and reinstate the companionship exemption, the Sixth Court decision affirms the authority of the DOL to execute this change, lawyers who are familiar with home care-related labor issues told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse.
“I believe this decision is actually beneficial for the Department of Labor’s initiative to reinstate these exemptions as they...
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