U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Home Care Case

DOL home care rule stands in wake of petition denial

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

http://www.employmentlawdaily.com/index.php/news/dol-home-care-rule-stands-in-wake-of-petition-denial/

June 28, 2016

The Supreme Court has declined to take up a challenge to the Labor Department’s revised domestic worker regulations that extend FLSA minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers, leaving the final rule in place. On June 27, the Court denied the petition for certiorari in Home Care Association of America v. Weil (Dkt. No. 15-683), as well as several other petitions filed in labor and employment cases.

Home care rule. In Home Care Association of America, the D.C. Circuit upheld the so-called home care rule, despite a district court’s earlier conclusion otherwise. The questions that the Justices have declined to address are whether:

• The Court intended in Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke to allow the DOL to deprive all third-party home care employers (who employ more than 90 percent of all home care employees) of their statutory right to avail themselves of FLSA exemptions to overtime.
• The D.C. Circuit erred in finding that Congress intended to exclude employees of third-party employers from the home care exemptions, thereby conflicting with Coke’s contrary reading of congressional intent and creating a conflict among the circuits.
• The DOL’s new rule should be found to be unreasonable due to the agency’s failure to meaningfully address the relevant factors of unaffordability and lack of adequate state funding of the increased costs of home health care under the new rule.

Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez quickly issued a statement applauding the High Court’s decision not to take up the case: “Today’s decision by the court not to review a challenge to the Final Rule ensures that the rule can fulfill President Obama’s vision of an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded. That will mean greater economic stability for so many hard-working people. For everything they do for our families, they deserve—and now they will get—a fair shot at being able to take care of their own. The final rule will also mean a more stable and professional home care workforce, benefitting consumers of these services and better meeting the needs of an aging population.”

* For more information, please visit www.BeverlyHillsEmploymentLaw.com