Amend FLSA Regs pertaining to Companionship & Live-in workers

[Guest guest]

FYI. From the National Disability Institute's Newsletter.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs058/1102452069849/archive/1109101979458.html

DOL Issues NPRM to amend FLSA Regulations pertaining to Companionship and Live-in Workers

On December 27, 2011 the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage & Hour Division published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the companionship and live-in worker regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed revisions of the companionship and live-in worker regulations are intended to:

more clearly define the tasks that may be performed by an exempt companion; and limit the companionship exemption to companions employed only by the family or household using the services [Third party employers, such as in-home care staffing agencies, could not claim the exemption, even if the employee is jointly employed by the third party and the family or household].

While Congress expanded protections to "domestic service" workers in 1974, these Amendments also created a limited exemption from both the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the Act for casual babysitters and companions for the aged and infirm, and created an exemption from the overtime pay requirement only for live-in domestic workers.Although the regulations governing exemptions have been substantially unchanged since they were promulgated in 1975, the in-home care industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. There has been a growing demand for long-term in-home care, and as a result the in-home care services industry has grown substantially. However, the earnings of in-home care employees remain among the lowest in the service industry, impeding efforts to improve both jobs and care. Moreover, the workers that are employed by in-home care staffing agencies are not the workers that Congress envisioned when it enacted the companionship exemption (i.e., neighbors performing elder sitting), but instead are professional caregivers entitled to FLSA protections. In view of these changes, the Department believes it is appropriate to reconsider whether the scope of the regulations are now too broad and not in harmony with Congressional intent. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments on the proposed rule on or before February 27, 2012 at www.regulations.gov.