Beyond Hospice: Home Health Agencies Plagued by UPICs and SMRCs
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), through its Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”), has been intensifying its pursuit of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) violations by residential care facilities, nursing facilities, home...more
Eleventh-Hour Trump Administration FLSA Classification Rule Revived- Just when residential healthcare employers thought it was safe to get back into the classification waters, a late-stage Trump administration rule,...more
Welcome to a special edition of our Healthcare Snapshot – this time with a Florida focus. We’re taking a deeper dive and examining how the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is focusing on whether home healthcare employees are...more
In a stunningly broad ruling that should send shivers down the spine of every home healthcare agency that uses an independent contractor workforce, a Florida federal court ruled on April 12 that a home healthcare worker who...more
On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced an education, outreach and enforcement initiative to ensure employers pay professional caregivers minimum wage and overtime in accordance with...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued two Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) opinion letters on December 31, 2020. One of those letters addresses travel time that occurs when employees schedule personal appointments during...more
2019 brought continuing changes to employment law issues affecting the health care industry. The following Alert — prepared by K&L Gates’ collaborative team of employment lawyers dedicated to serving health care industry...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL issued an opinion letter approving a pay model where an employer in the home health field payed its employees at an hourly rate for time spent with patients without additional hourly pay for time...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Department of Labor Acting Administrator Bryan Jarrett issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-4 (“FAB”) on July 13, to guide Wage & Hour Division (“WHD”) field investigators on how to determine whether...more
On July 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin (“FAB”) to provide guidance to field-office staff regarding whether caregivers, such as nurses and health aides, qualify under the Fair...more
On July 13, 2018, the acting administrator for the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2018-4 to assist field staff in determining when home care, nurse, or...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on July 13, 2018, issued a Field Assistance Bulletin to its enforcement administrators, explaining how to determine if and when caregiver and nurse registries should be deemed employers...more
A recent federal court decision has added to the confusion surrounding the application of the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) "home care" overtime rule and New York's "13-hour" rule regarding compensable work hours for...more
As we reported earlier this month, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) issued an amendment, effective October 6, to its Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations to clarify that bona fide...more
Citing the need “to preserve the status quo, prevent the collapse of the home healthcare industry, and avoid institutionalizing patients who could be cared for at home,” the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has issued...more
As we recently reported, on October 6, 2017, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) issued an amendment to its Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations regulation to clarify that bona fide...more
As previously discussed, recent decisions from the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, found a New York State Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) opinion letter was not a “rational or reasonable” interpretation of New York...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective October 6, 2017, the New York Department of Labor issued an emergency regulation amending the Miscellaneous Minimum Wage Order, which is designed to undermine two recent Appellate Division rulings...more
On October 6, 2017, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) issued an amendment to its Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations (“Wage Order”) in response to recent court decisions finding that...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department (“Second Department”) joined the First Department in finding that home healthcare employees who work 24-hour...more
A pair of New York state appellate decisions has serious implications for employers that offer 24-hour home care for clients by ruling that sleep and meal periods must be included in the hourly wages of home care attendants....more
Claims by home care workers for unpaid overtime have risen steadily since the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2015, eliminated the federal overtime exemptions that allowed agency employers essentially to pay no overtime wage...more
The federal government recently extended minimum wage and overtime protections to most home health care workers. If you are hiring a caregiver for yourself or an elderly loved one, you need to become familiar with the rules,...more
On June 27, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of certiorari in Home Care Association of America v. Weil, leaving the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Home Care Rule intact. The Home...more
If you employ a home care worker who provides services for a family member with disabilities, you may have to deal with the very strict wage and hour requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. These requirements...more