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Home Health & Hospice Week

Compensation:

Companionship Rule Change A Bust For Everyone

Published on Thu Jan 27, 2011

Rule will cost employers with no real benefit for workers, experts say. The Obama Administration is trumpeting the proposed change to the overtime rules for aides, but the truth is the new rule won't help workers much. That's because if the Department of Labor excludes home health agencies from using the companionship exemption, they will largely avoid triggering the OT pay by limiting workers' hours to less than 40 (see related story, p. 2). "The real sad part of this is the impact will be felt most strongly by the workers who will have to have their hours cut," notes attorney Elizabeth Zink-Pearson with Pearson & Bernard in Covington, Ky. For payors ranging from private clients to Medicaid programs to be able to afford to pay for aide services, "the only answer will be to assure that workers do not exceed 40 hours of work," Zink-Pearson predicts. Due to cutting [...]
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