On December 15, 2011, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued its much-anticipated proposed rule that could make more than a million domestic caregivers eligible to receive minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the WHD, the home healthcare industry has changed since the FLSA regulations governing home care employees were enacted more than 35 years ago. To that end, the proposal seeks to revise the FLSA’s companionship and live-in worker regulations to limit the types of duties that render a home caregiver exempt from FLSA requirements, clarify the type of activities and duties that may be considered “incidental” to the provision of companionship services, amend the recordkeeping requirements for live-in domestic workers, and specify that the exemption is limited to care givers employed by the individual, family or household using the services only. Third-party employers, including in-home staffing agencies, would not be entitled to claim the exemption even if the worker is jointly employed by the third party and the family/household. To learn more about the proposed rule and its implications for employers, please continue reading at Littler's Washington D.C. Employment Law Update.