Supreme Court Leaves Intact Limited Overtime Exemption for Companionship Services Providers

Author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor

July 7, 2016

An overtime exemption for companionship services providers -- such as home health aides, personal care aides and certified nursing assistants -- will remain limited only to those workers who are not directly employed by the family or household using their services.

The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a legal challenge to a 2015 appeals court ruling upholding regulations issued by the US Department of Labor (DOL) in 2013 that:

A group of trade associations had petitioned the Supreme Court to review the 2015 ruling, claiming among other things that it "renders limitless the ability of the [DOL] to rewrite the FLSA's exemptions," but the Court apparently found those arguments unpersuasive.

In an updated statement, the DOL said, "We continue to provide employers technical assistance for coming into compliance with the [companionship services providers regulations]. As with all of our enforcement actions, employers and workers can expect that we will strategically use our enforcement resources, including complaint-based and agency-initiated investigations, to achieve compliance with these new important protections."