Home Health Aides Await New Minimum Wage, Overtime Rules

Home health care aides are waiting to
find out if they will be entitled to receive minimum wage. A decades-old
amendment in labor law means that the workers, approximately 2.5
million people, do not always receive minimum wage or overtime. The
Obama administration has yet to formally approve revisions to the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that would change that classification. On
December 15, 2011, Obama announced the proposal, and then-Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis offered her support for the revisions in the Labor
Department's blog stating, "This new rule would ensure that these
hardworking professionals who provide valuable services to American
families would receive the protections of minimum wage and overtime pay
that nearly every employee in the United States already receives under
the FLSA." The guidelines would affect a growing industry (revenues for
home health care services nearly doubled to $55 billion between 2001 and
2009, according to the U.S. Census).

Source/more: NPR