Companion Exemption Does Not Apply to Workers in Community-Based Settings, Court Confirms

Posted on14 January 2010. 

Western Missouri District Court, Kansas City, MO

Supportive services workers who care for people with Medicaid in community-based residential care settings are not exempt from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements, confirmed a U.S. district court in Western Missouri.

The case of Solis v. Firstcall Staffing Solutions, Inc. (pdf) involved 10 developmentally disabled consumers sharing four dwellings in an Independence, MO, apartment complex. The employer, Firstcall Staffing Solutions, had argued that because the community-based care facility had been set up as individual apartments, it should be treated as the recipients’ homes.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “companionship” exemption, workers providing certain services in a consumer’s private home are currently exempt from minimum wage and overtime protections.

Backs Longstanding DOL Position

The court agreed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that the community-based residential setting did not qualify as a private home.

“The DOL and most federal courts have taken the position that the companionship exemption does not apply in such settings,” said Paul Sonn of the National Employment Law Project.

Community-Based Care Not Affected by Possible Exemption Reforms

“Because service workers employed in community-based residential care settings are already covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements, they would not be affected by possible reforms to the companionship exemption,” Sonn continued.

PHI and other advocates have called on DOL to narrow the exemption in order to extend wage and overtime protections to a greater number of home care workers.

“While we await Department action on limiting applicability of the companionship exemption to agency-employed home care workers, it is heartening to see DOL’s vigilance in combating efforts to extend the exemption more broadly and deprive direct-care workers of their rightful wage and overtime protections,” said Steve Edelstein, PHI’s National Policy Director.

PHI Blog - PolicyWorks

Examining Medicaid as an Option for Health Care Reform

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has released new related research papers examining the policy opportunities for expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income and high-need people in ways that would enable the program to serve as a platform for larger national health reform efforts.

A briefing held at the Kaiser Foundation yesterday discussed the issues that must be addressed as congressional leaders work on proposals for universal coverage that might include the expansion of Medicaid. Some of those issues included:

• Cost at the state and federal level
• Variance in federal match rate for states
• Eligibility in terms of income and health status
• Provider payment rates
• Balance between public programs and private insurance

The briefing is available via webcast.

Allison Lee

National Campaign Manager

HCHCW

alee@phinational.org