Home Health Care Workers Not Entitled to Minimum Wage

The US Supreme Court ruled today that home health care workers are not entitled to the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Evelyn Coke, a 73-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, filed a lawsuit against her employer Long Island Care at Home to challenge Department of Labor regulations that exempt home care workers from minimum wage and overtime provisions.

Under the Department of Labor (DOL) regulations, "Casual babysitters and persons employed as companions to the elderly or infirm" are specifically exempt from both minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. The FLSA exempts some employees from its overtime pay and minimum wage provisions, but it also exempts certain employees from only overtime pay provisions. The specific regulations state the exemption includes those "companionship" workers "employed by an . . . agency other than the family or household using their services."

The Attorney representing Ms. Coke argued the congressional intent was in neighbor to neighbor relations and not in third party employment relationships. The court rejected this notion, but Justice Bryer, who wrote the opinion of the court, while acknowledging the court should defer to the DOL rule, registered the opinion that it was indeed "bad public policy."

In the court decision, the court states the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1974 exempted from the minimum wage and maximum hours rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) persons "employed in domestic service employment to provide companionship services for individuals . . . unable to care for themselves." 29 U. S. C. §213(a)(15).