Home Health & Hospice Week

Comments on the proposal are due next month.

The Department of Labor's proposal to eliminate the overtime exemption for companion workers is going to backfire, if a new survey is any indication.

In December, the DOL proposed a rule eliminating the exemption for any home care workers employed by a third party -- i.e., any staff of home health agencies and private duty agencies (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXI, No. 1, p. 2).

Background: The companionship exemption exempts 'companion' workers from Wage and Hour rules mandated by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which require overtime payment and minimum wage.

In a survey conducted by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and the Private Duty Home Care Association, nearly 63 percent of the respondents that are currently obligated to pay overtime under state law report that they restrict OT hours. "More than 86 percent of the companies that will face a new overtime requirement if the proposed rule takes effect, report that they will restrict the hours worked by staff to prevent overtime costs," NAHC adds.

Nearly 82 percent of the 1,500 survey respondents expect to increase their private pay billing charges, the survey found.

"The greatest negative impact on clients/ patients reported by respondents is the loss of continuity of care brought on by the need to assign multiple caregivers to control overtime costs," NAHC reports. "The clients are then driven into the underground economy, hiring workers 'under the table' where they lost the quality control and oversight that an agency worker provides."

Don't forget: Comments on the DOL's proposed rule are due Feb. 27.

Note: The proposed rule is online at www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/CompanionshipNPRM.pdf. The survey results are online at www.privatedutybenchmarking.com/companionship-exemption-2012.