The Home Care Association of America, NAHC and the International Franchise Association have joined forces to take on a previous ruling regarding the Department of Labor’s (DOL) implementation of the overtime rule for home health workers.
The group taking the DOL to court is basing their argument that the overtime ruling should be thrown out on a separate ruling from 2007. In 2007, a Long Island, NY based agency went to court over third party care provided by staff and not requiring overtime to be paid. The court sided with the agency.
It is quite unclear whether or not the Supreme Court will reopen the case and hear arguments. With the death of Justice Scalia, the court will need to decide on how to proceed with one less judge on the panel. Many states have joined in the recent battle stating that forcing agencies to pay overtime and higher wages will place a large burden on already taxed Medicaid services. The states go on to support the trade organizations in their belief that less services will be available to those who need in-home care with the DOL requirement.
As the case and progress continues to develop, we will keep you posted. It’s quite to many in home health that this law is quite debilitating to all agencies.