This was in my inbox from the U.S. Department of Labor but for whatever techno reason, I was unable to forward/share… so I cut and pasted: The link is for a guide, which you then download...

Since publication of the Home Care Final Rule, the Department of Labor has led an unprecedented implementation program to engage stakeholders and to help employers prepare for compliance. In this process, stakeholder questions indicated a need for additional guidance to help consumers and families who use home care services determine their responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal minimum wage and overtime law that applies to most home care workers.

Today, DOL is issuing Paying Minimum Wage and Overtime to Home Care Workers: A Guide for Consumers and their Families to the Fair Labor Standards Act. This user-friendly guide, developed with stakeholder input, explains who needs to follow the FLSA rules and how to follow them. The guide provides examples of situations involving hiring a home care worker directly, using a home care agency, and arranging care through a self-directed program. It discusses paid providers who are family members of the consumer and who are live-in workers.

On Page 25 of the Homecare Guide, it says:

However, if any part of the time that is supposed to be for sleeping, meal breaks, or

other periods of free time is interrupted by work, the worker must be paid

for the time spent working.

Q. Please advise if a Home Health aide usually sleeps all night from 10PM to 8 am but gets up 1 rare night to assist the client is the employee paid for the 15 min they provided assistance?

A. Yes, interruptions to sleep during which the worker performs tasks on behalf the person must always be paid as work time. If the interruptions are so frequent that the employee cannot get at least five hours of sleep during the scheduled sleeping period, the entire period must be counted as time spent working and paid accordingly.

Q. Under hours worked; if the consumer goes to the worker's home for the weekend and sleeps 8 hours at night, is the worker due 16 hours or 24 hours paid time?

A. Where an employee is required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, even if the worker is not a live-in domestic service employee, the employer and the employee may agree to exclude a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of not more than 8 hours from hours worked, provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted nights sleep.

Please review Fact Sheet 79 D for Hours Worked Applicable to Domestic Service Employment at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs79d.htm .

Q. What about 24-hr shifts by a worker not living permanently or for an extended period of time at the home but instead 1-4 days per week? Can we still deduct sleep time from worked hours?

A. Where an employee is required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, even if the worker is not a live-in domestic service employee, the employer and the employee may agree to exclude a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of not more than 8 hours from hours worked, provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted nights sleep.

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We Count on Home Care

Domestic Service Final Rule Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. Please advise if a Home Health aide usually sleeps all night from 10PM to 8 am but gets up 1 rare night to assist the client is the employee paid for the 15 min they provided assistance?

Q. Under hours worked; if the consumer goes to the worker's home for the weekend and sleeps 8 hours at night, is the worker due 16 hours or 24 hours paid time?

Q. What about 24-hr shifts by a worker not living permanently or for an extended period of time at the home but instead 1-4 days per week? Can we still deduct sleep time from worked hours?