<H3>• USDOL Issues Final Rule on the Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service</H3>

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Summary of the Major Provisions of the Final Rule: This Final Rule makes changes to several sections of 29 CFR part 552, the Department's regulations concerning domestic services employment. The Department is slightly revising the definition of ``domestic service employment'' in Sec. 552.3 to clarify the language and modernize the list of examples of professions that fall within this category. This Final Rule also updates the definition of ``companionship services'' in Sec. 552.6 in order to restrict the term to encompass only workers who are providing the sorts of limited, non-professional services Congress envisioned when creating the exemption. Specifically, paragraph (a), which uses more modern language than appears in the 1974 amendments or 1975 regulations, provides that ``companionship services'' means the provision of fellowship and protection for an elderly person or person with an illness, injury, or disability who requires assistance in caring for himself or herself. It also defines ``fellowship'' as engaging the person in social, physical, and mental activities and ``protection'' as being present with the person in his or her home, or to accompany the person when outside of the home, to monitor the person's safety and well-being. Paragraph (b) provides that the term ``companionship services'' also includes the provision of care if the care is provided attendant to and in conjunction with the provision of fellowship and protection and if it does not exceed 20 percent of the total hours worked per person and per workweek. It defines ``care'' as assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Paragraph (c) provides that the term ``companionship services'' does not include general domestic services performed primarily for the benefit of other members of the household. Paragraph (d) provides that the term ``companionship services'' does not include the performance of medically related services, and it explains that the determination of whether the services performed are medically related is based on whether the services typically require and are performed by trained personnel, such as registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, or certified nursing assistants, regardless of the actual training or occupational title of the individual providing the services. To better ensure that live-in domestic service employees are compensated for all hours worked, the Department is also changing the language in Sec. Sec. 552.102 and .110 to require the keeping of actual records of the hours worked by such employees. The Department is revising Sec. 552.109, the regulatory provision regarding domestic service employees employed by third-party employers, or employers other than the individual receiving services or his or her family or household. To better ensure that the domestic service employees to whom Congress intended to extend FLSA protections in fact enjoy those protections, the new regulatory text precludes third party employers (e.g., home care agencies) from claiming the exemption for companionship services or live-in domestic service employees. See the complete report at this link: The Federal Register

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