Court Orders Home Care Workers To Get Minimum Wage Protections

The courtroom in Washington dominated that the Labor Division had authority to vary the wage guidelines overlaying home staff who assist the aged and disabled with on a regular basis duties resembling bathing or taking drugs.

A new federal court decision has cleared the way for home aides in California and around the country to begin receiving overtime pay for their work.

The appeals court’s decision Friday overturned both rulings and cleared the way for the department to start enforcing its minimum wage and overtime rule by mid-October.

Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Sri Srinivasan cited a “dramatic transformation” of the home care industry over the past four decades as a valid reason for the change.

He also noted a massive shift to providing care for the elderly in their own homes rather than in nursing homes, which requires workers to offer more advanced medical care and assistance to clients than the mere “companionship” services envisioned in 1974. Judge Thomas Griffith was appointed by President George W. Bush. The rule was opposed by the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has said it would make home-health care too expensive for some.

Home healthcare workers in California could receive overtime pay beginning this fall. “We are closing the sad chapter of racial discrimination that was ingrained in the Fair Labor Standards Act and ensuring that 2 million home care workers now have the same protections the vast majority of Americans have at work”, said SEIU worldwide President Mary Kay Henry. “All options are under consideration, including a request for review by the U.S. Supreme Court”, he said.

While there are still potential legal hurdles that the rule change could face, most will likely take the district court’s decision to mean that home care workers have new rights. Since then, the movement has exploded, especially in states where home care workers are paid extremely low wages, including Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, and Ohio. Under the latest rules, salaried employees earning less than $50,440 a year would be assured overtime, up from the previous threshold of $23,660 a year.