Beyond Hospice: Home Health Agencies Plagued by UPICs and SMRCs
California lawmakers continuously grapple with the “Iron Triangle” of healthcare—a principle positing that cost, quality, and access are interdependent, with any improvement in one area likely necessitating compromises in the...more
On January 12, 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights (S723) into law, representing a landmark victory for labor rights groups across the state. The new law, effective July 2024, extends labor...more
One of the many new provisions enacted as part of the 2023-2024 New York State Budget was an increase in the minimum wage for home care workers. Initially, it is important to note that the $1 hourly increase in the minimum...more
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
Governor Hochul signed the New York State Budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 into law on May 3, 2023, bringing with it sweeping changes to the way home health care agencies and home care staffing agencies in the state will...more
On April 9, 2022, New York passed a $20 billion, multi-year healthcare investment in the FY 2023 State Budget. According to Governor Kathy Hochul, the budget includes “historic investments that will rebuild the health care...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
When New York adopted a wage parity law setting minimum wage and benefit levels for home care workers, innovative home health care agency companies created a captive plan structure to meet the benefits requirements. Although...more
On March 26, 2019, the New York State Court of Appeals issued a ruling that will have a significant positive impact on home care agencies across the state. In a five-to-two decision, the Court upheld the validity of the New...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
On July 27, 2018, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed into law the Domestic Worker Ordinance (“the DWO”). Effective July 1, 2019, the ordinance is expected to impact approximately 33,000 domestic workers in Seattle. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Seattle has long been at the forefront of progressive labor policies. Take, for example, its 2014 Minimum Wage Ordinance, which made it the first major city in the nation to increase wages to $15 an hour. ...more
It is hard to believe that it has been three years now since the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) “companionship” exemption was strictly limited to direct-hire caregivers engaged in a narrower scope of activities,...more
The home care industry has faced collapse since a series of New York Appellate Division decisions invalidated New York Department of Labor (NY DOL) policy and held that home care attendants working 24-hour shifts who are...more
The New York State Department of Labor (DOL) adopted an emergency temporary regulation on October 6, 2017 to address home care aides who work shifts of 24 hours or more. This action comes amidst much anxiety in the industry...more
The home health care industry has been buffeted in the past year by almost constant winds of change and conflicting guidance. Home health care agencies, which provide crucial live-in aides to New York’s most vulnerable,...more
The New York State Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued an emergency regulation clarifying its minimum-wage rules regarding home care employees. The emergency regulation provides that sleep and meal times for home care...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
On Friday, October 6, 2017 the New York State Department of Labor (NYDOL) used its “emergency” regulatory power to amend its Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations, relating to home care workers...more
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, issued two decisions in September that have serious ramifications for the home health care industry. In Moreno v. Future Care Health Servs., Inc., 2017 WL 4018898 (N.Y. App....more
In a significant blow to the home health care industry in New York, non-resident home health care attendants must be paid minimum wage for all hours they are required to remain at the client’s home, including hours when they...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A New York appeals court held that home healthcare employees who work overnight shifts are entitled to pay for all hours in a client’s home in a 24-hour period—including sleep and meal periods. The...more
As Littler reported in March of 2015, a New York Supreme Court, Kings County Justice found that sleep and meal periods must not be excluded from the hourly wages of a home attendant who does not reside in the home of his or...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