Home Health & Hospice Week

The tug of war over whether states can deduct union dues from home care workers’ paychecks has been yanked back into the “yes” category.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a final rule in the May 16 Federal Register which “explicitly authorizes States to make payments to third parties on behalf of individual practitioners, for individual practitioners’ health insurance and welfare benefits, skills training, and other benefits customary for employees, if the individual practitioner consents to such payments on their behalf.” That includes payments for union dues, the rule makes clear.

“Many workplaces allow employees to deduct union dues from their paychecks, and the union practices cited by some commenters do not justify distinguishing this aspect of an employment-like relationship from any other benefits deduction,” the rule notes. Required consent procedures should help avoid “dues skimming,” the rule adds.

Opponents argue that deducting union dues will take money out of home care workers’ pockets for little to no benefit; will worsen the home care worker shortage thanks to de facto reduced payment rates; and will reduce the amount of funding for services for vulnerable Americans.

This change comes after a Trump administration rule in 2019 barred states from collecting union dues (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXVIII, No. 17).

The 16-page rule is at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-05-16/pdf/2022-10225.pdf.