Health and personal care services

Home care workers are currently excluded from FLSA because they are considered mere “companions,” an outdated ruling that fails to account for the health and personal care services they provide to elders and people with disabilities. “Extending minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers has been the Direct Care Alliance’s flagship issue since the Supreme Court ruled against Evelyn Coke,” says Leonila Vega, executive director of the Direct Care Alliance (DCA). “We are delighted that the end of this injustice is in sight.”

Evelyn Coke was a home care worker who challenged the companionship exemption in court. Her case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 2007 that DOL was acting within its authority in upholding the exemption.