On Monday, June 27, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the new U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) requirement that home care providers pay the federal minimum wage and overtime to home care workers. As we previously discussed, on August 21, 2015, the D.C. Circuit in Home Care Association of America v. Weil affirmed the validity of the Home Care Final Rule, which eliminated a long-existing prior regulation and barred third-party employers from claiming minimum wage and overtime exemptions for home care workers.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to grant review ends any hope that home care providers had that the implementation of the new regulation might be reversed. Accordingly, all home care providers should make sure that they are paying home care workers at least the federal minimum wage and overtime as well as any additional amounts required under state and local laws. Because Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs typically pay only at a flat hourly rate for home care services, providers will be forced to absorb the costs of any overtime or limit the number of hours home care providers work to avoid overtime costs.
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