Dive Brief:
- On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit upheld a Labor Department rule that requires employment agencies to pay the minimum wage and overtime to home care workers who tend to the sick, elderly and disabled, according to Fortune.
- Home care workers were under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption that allowed third-party employers to avoid paying minimum wage or overtime to these workers who provided “companionship services.” In 2013, the DOL introduced a rule that removed that exemption.
- Trade groups argued that the rule would “destabilize the home care industry and make it harder for families to pay for the care of aging or disabled relatives,” according to Fortune.
Dive Insight:
The rule was not implemented at first because trade groups asked a federal judge to invalidate it, who then obliged. That ruling was overturned in the court of appeals last Friday, which stated that FLSA gave the Labor Department the authority to determine how exceptions should apply, if at all.
Many have called the exemption a discrimination issue, as 91% of home care workers are female and 56% are non-white, according to analysis from the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute. This rule only affects home care workers employed through agencies, however. Those employed directly by families are still exempt from these laws.
The department did not comment on when the rule would go into effect, and its opponents could delay it further, reported Fortune.
