Caregiver agencies fear change in overtime rule

It's a federal rule change that doesn't matter in Nevada now, but it might mean a lot later.

The U.S. Department of Labor may change a 37-year-old rule that exempts from overtime workers who provide nonmedical, in-home companion care for seniors and the disabled. The new rule would require companies to pay overtime to companion workers who put in more than 40 hours a week. Nevada law already mandates overtime for companion workers, but agencies that employ them are working to change that.

Agency owners say a switch in the federal rule would complicate their efforts.

"The reasons for changing our state regulations remain the same, but it becomes a much more difficult sell if the federal law gets changed," said Steven Gleicher, co-owner of Right At Home in Las Vegas.

Companion-care workers haven't been subject to federal overtime rules for a variety of reasons, Gleicher said.

Working in a home isn't as strenuous as working in an assisted-care setting, where a caregiver may have several people to look after, Gleicher said. Plus, clients prefer "continuity of care," with one caregiver routinely working for them. They don't want workers shuffled in and out as shifts end, he said.

Mark Ricciardi, a labor lawyer and managing partner of the Las Vegas office of law firm Fisher & Phillips, said discussion of eliminating federal overtime exemptions comes partly from an effort to make in-home care more of a profession.

But the rule change would load more expenses on to providers, and thus wouldn't help the sector overall, he said.

More overtime pay "will result either in the elderly and infirm getting fewer hours of help, or in companies who provide caregivers making much lower profit margins," Ricciardi said. "I don't see how that helps anyone."

A February study from the International Franchise Association found that 27 percent of industry employees nationwide work overtime, for an average of 8.2 hours a week.

The report also found that 78 percent of care agencies nationwide said the proposed rule change would significantly affect their business, with 69 percent forecasting a big increase in costs. Three-quarters of them said they'd raise fees on their clients to accommodate overtime pay.

Gleicher said he would need fewer workers if he didn't have to pay overtime. His company employs 30, but at any given moment just 18 or so are on assignment. Many of his employees, who earn $9 to $11 an hour, work for multiple agencies to make more money, he added.

Right At Home and some of Nevada's more than 100 other nonmedical in-home care companies have established Personal Care Agencies of Nevada, a lobbying group designed to discuss changing Nevada's overtime requirement in upcoming legislative sessions. Gleicher said the group would keep trying regardless of what the Department of Labor decides.

The department is accepting public comments on the rule change through Wednesday. To comment, call the agency at 866-487-2365, or visit www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=WHD-2011-0003-0001 on the Web.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at
jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.