The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) announced it will hold a public hearing to receive testimony on proposed regulations clarifying that hours worked may exclude sleep and meal time for home health care aides who work shifts of 24 hours or more. The hearing will be held July 11, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York.
As you may recall, on October 6, 2017, the NYSDOL issued an amendment to its Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations in response to court decisions finding that non-residential 24-hour home health care aides must be paid for their sleep and meal time. That amendment, which was issued on an emergency basis without public notice or comment, reaffirmed the NYSDOL's position that sleep and meal time may be excluded from hours worked by home health care aides who works shifts of 24 hours or more, provided those periods are also excluded from hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The NYSDOL now intends to codify its position, consistent with well-established federal standards governing 24-hour home care, that bona fide sleep and meal time should be excluded from hours worked where the employees work, sleep, and eat at the same location. Additional information is available here.
Should you have questions regarding the information presented in this alert, please contact Robert J. Thorpe at rthorpe@barclaydamon.com or Laurence B. Oppenheimer, Chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Area, at loppenheimer@barclaydamon.com.