Please Read This First Before You Hire Help for Your Elderly

In its final decision, the United States Department of Labor has just extended the minimum wage and overtime rules to home care workers who give aid to the elderly. But these new rules (new protections) do not fully apply to all caregivers.

The rules differ between a caregiver that has been hired through an agency like 1Heart Caregiver Services and a caregiver that is hired directly by a client to care for his elderly parent(s).

“If you’re hiring a worker on your own, you need to know whether what you’re hiring them to do counts under the exemption,” says Catherine Ruckelshaus, legal co-director of the National Employment Law Project.

The new rules, effective Jan. 1, 2015, change how the companionship exemption rule, minimum wage and overtime works under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The chart below courtesy of Homework Solutions indicate the types of tasks that count for companionship exemption. The chart classifies the task as either companionship care (√), incidental tasks permitted that cannot exceed 20% of the caregivers time (20%), and those that are excluded (EXCLUDED) and when required the caregiver cannot be classified as a companion.

For further details with regards to this ruling please visit www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/, www.forbes.com, HomeworkSolutions.com
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