Home health care businesses in the Valley are nervously waiting to see how the federal court system will address an important question of overtime pay for home health care workers. Last year the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that home care workers that live with clients are not exempted from overtime pay if they are employed by an agency or employer other than the household in which they’re providing services. The ruling addresses a federal exemption for “companionship services,” which means services like meal preparation that a client cannot do for themselves. They fall under the companionship umbrella if the work does not exceed 20 percent of a worker’s total weekly hours. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider its ruling. Although California businesses are not under the jurisdiction of the Second Circuit, home health care businesses in the Valley are wondering whether California will continue to uphold its exemption. Janet Feely, owner of Right at Home in Woodland Hills, said that if she’s required to pay live-in workers overtime, she may no longer be able to offer the service to her clients. “Right now the exemption allows us to pay live-in employees a daily fee,” said Feely. “That fee you would have to pay is based on eight hours of continual work or eight hours of periodic work with rest, and eight hours of sleep.” Feely, who has been in business for two years, said she already pays her employees well above the minimum wage, and worries that if the state eliminates its overtime exemption, clients could be in trouble. “Any good agency with adequate staff can fill two twelve-hour shifts or three eight-hour shifts in a day,” said Feely. “But I have a 91-year-old client with dementia, and they want a live-in (employee) because they don’t want shift changes except when they absolutely have to have them . . . now they could be forced into a situation where they have to have people rotating through their household. If clients are forced to pay for more than one worker every day, it could cost them hundreds of dollars more per week. Feely said she follows employment laws to the letter, but does not know what California will decide about its overtime exemption, and therefore has no information for her employees. Feely currently has about 35 part-time employees, of which five can work live-in shifts during the week and seven can work weekend live-in shifts.
