Home Care Association of America v. Weil

Home Care Association of America (Home Care) (plaintiff) sued David Weil, administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (department) (defendant), to challenge the department’s promulgation of regulations changing the treatment of certain home care workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA exempted certain categories of domestic-service workers, including those who provided companionship services and those who lived in the home where they worked, from its minimum-wage and overtime requirements. Before the new regulations, the exemption was interpreted to apply both to persons hired directly by home care recipients or their families and to employees of third-party agencies who were assigned to provide care in a home. The new regulations removed employees of third-party agencies from the exemption and brought them within the FLSA’s minimum-wage and overtime requirements. The department determined that the amendment was necessary due to changes in the way that home care services were delivered. Specifically, when the statutory exemption was enacted in 1974, long-term care was more likely to be provided in an institutional setting, and care provided at home tended to be less intensive and supplied by untrained individuals. Increasingly, however, more extensive care was provided at home by professional caregivers who were hired by agencies that profited from the caregivers’ services. Home Care, an organization representing home care agencies, challenged the new regulations, and the district court invalidated the new rules, concluding that they contravened the terms of the statutory exemptions. The department appealed.