Sponsors
The bill increases statutory clarity and preserves cost‑saving exemptions for homeowners and employers, but does so at the risk of narrowing worker wage and overtime protections and reducing regulatory flexibility for protecting vulnerable recipients and caregivers.
Caregivers, employers, and courts get clearer, more predictable rules because the bill defines "companionship services," "domestic service," and related terms and makes statutory text determinative rather than relying on Department of Labor rulemaking.
Home‑health and domestic workers who perform substantial household tasks are less likely to be misclassified as non‑covered 'companionship' workers because the bill limits general household work to 20% of weekly hours.
Homeowners and small home‑care employers retain lower labor costs because the bill preserves the companionship and live‑in exemptions for certain in‑home providers.
Homecare and live‑in domestic workers risk remaining or becoming excluded from minimum‑wage and overtime protections, reducing pay and increasing the risk of long hours and wage exploitation.
Reducing Department of Labor regulatory authority makes it harder to update protections as care models change, potentially leaving vulnerable care recipients and workers without timely rulemaking responses.
If the definitions are interpreted to bring more workers under the FLSA, third‑party home‑care agencies could face higher labor costs and compliance burdens.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Adds statutory definitions for companionship, domestic service, and third‑party employment to the FLSA and adjusts statutory exemption language for companionship and live‑in domestic workers.
Introduced March 24, 2025 by Mary E. Miller · Last progress March 24, 2025
Defines key terms for in‑home care by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act: it adds statutory definitions for “companionship services,” “domestic service,” and “third‑party employment,” adjusts the statutory language that governs the companionship services exemption from minimum wage and overtime, and indicates a change to the live‑in domestic services exemption though the inserted text is not provided. It also sets an official short title for the Act. The practical effect is to move key definitions into statute (rather than by Secretary regulation), clarify what kinds of household and personal care count as companionship services (including limits on general household work), and create uncertainty about the exact change to the live‑in exemption because the amendment text for that part was not included.