In 2013, the Department of Labor extended these wage and overtime protections to home care workers, stating that home care agencies no longer could claim that the workers were exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act provisions.
The DOL’s move was challenged by trade organizations the Home Care Association of America and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). The associations have argued that the new protections could actually harm workers, if agencies now reduce hours to avoid paying overtime, and that access to care also could be compromised as costs go up.
A federal judge subsequently ruled that the DOL did not have authority to make the changes, but the ruling on Friday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came to a different conclusion.
“The Department’s decision to extend the FLSA’s protections to those employees is grounded in a reasonable interpretation of the statute and is neither arbitrary nor capricious,” Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote on behalf of the three-member panel.