The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced on December 16th, 2011 that it would publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the companionship exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the current rules (set in 1974), people employed as companions for aged or infirm individuals are exempted from minimum wage and overtime requirements. Over the past 35 years, there have been many changes in the home care industry. In particular, more and more people are becoming trained professional caregivers, while the current regulation was written to cover casual companions, such as a friend or neighbor paid to look in on an aging parent from time to time.
The proposed change would limit the exemption to people hired directly by the family of the individual needing care, and not to employees of a third party, such as a home care staffing agency. The new rules would also clarify the tasks that exempt workers may not perform, including injections, wound care, catheter/ostomy care, and physical therapy.
The proposed changes may be read in their entirety here. To quickly find out how the change will affect you, we recommend the Department of Labor’s FAQ list. The Department of Labor invites the public to comment on the proposed change. Comments must be submitted on or before February 27, 2012.