Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act

Key Points

• This bill would remove the current federal exemption that allows home care workers to be paid less than minimum wage and denied overtime pay. It amends the Fair Labor Standards Act so that home health aides, personal care aides, and similar caregivers get the same pay protections as most other American workers.
• The bill narrows the existing domestic service exemption so it only applies to casual babysitters, not trained caregiving professionals. Home health aides, personal care aides, and nurses working in private homes would no longer be exempt from overtime or minimum wage rules.
• The bill creates a clear legal definition of "babysitting services" and "casual basis" to separate occasional neighborhood babysitters from professional caregivers. Only irregular or intermittent babysitting by non-professionals would remain exempt.
• The companion overtime exemption for certain domestic service employees under subsection (b)(21) of the Fair Labor Standards Act would be repealed entirely, ensuring home care workers earn time-and-a-half for hours over 40 per week.
• This change would affect millions of workers in the fast-growing home care industry, many of whom are women and people of color earning low wages for physically and emotionally demanding work. If enacted, it could raise costs for families and government programs like Medicaid that pay for home care services, but supporters say it is needed to close pay gaps and address the caregiver shortage.