By Kate McGovern Torone, Editor

The U.S. Supreme Court has chosen not to review the decision of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulations that expand Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protections for home care workers.

DOL in 2013 issued new FLSA regulations withdrawing a minimum wage and overtime exemption for certain home care employees employed by third-party providers. The change affected live-in domestic service workers and workers who provide domestic companionship services.

The Home Care Association of America challenged the new rule in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that it was inconsistent with Congress’ intent in crafting the FLSA and also arbitrary and capricious. The district court agreed and kept the rules from taking effect in 2015 as scheduled.

DOL appealed and in August 2015 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling, finding that Congress intended to cover employees whose vocation is domestic service. Therefore, it was reasonable for DOL to interpret the law as exempting only casual employees, the court said, rather than all home care employees as the HCAOA argued.

The appeals court also disagreed that the rules were arbitrary and capricious. The department’s policy change is based on a reasoned explanation, the court found. DOL justified its policy shift with evidence of a dramatic transformation of the home care industry in recent years, the court said. (Home Care Ass’n of America, 799 F.3d 1084 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 21, 2015)

DOL announced that it would begin enforcing the rules Nov. 12, 2015. HCAOA asked the Supreme Court to stay the rules until it could appeal the D.C. Circuit’s decision, but the high court declined to do so.

The department began enforcement and HCAOA filed its Supreme Court petition Nov. 18, 2015. The organization asked the Court to determine whether DOL is permitted “to deprive all third-party home care employers (who employ more than 90% of all home care employees) of their statutory right to avail themselves of exemptions to overtime under the FLSA.”

The high court on June 27 announced that it would not review the appeals court’s decision. DOL’s website says that “[e]ffective January 1, 2015, direct care workers employed by agencies and other third-party employers are entitled to receive at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay.”