HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

114

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the Director of Health to establish a Fair Labor home care services Task force to examine the impact of the federal regulation extending minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the Federal Labor Standards Act to workers who provide essential home care services to persons with disabilities and older adults.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Fair Labor Standards Act generally requires employers to pay employees a minimum wage and overtime compensation under certain conditions; and

 

     WHEREAS, 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempted casual babysitters and various domestic service workers from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements; and

 

WHEREAS, in 2013, the United States Department of Labor adopted a final regulation requiring that third-party employers of companionship services and live-in employees be subject to the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act; and

 

WHEREAS, the new regulation may have a profound impact on current home care services and costs, especially for healthcare providers providing services to persons with developmental disabilities and persons with intellectual disabilities; and

 

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Labor has made the statement that it could not "address all shared living arrangements raised in the comments because the circumstances are different under countless factual scenarios" as it relates to application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to domestic services; and

 

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Labor's 2013 regulation has left it to the states to consider how best to provide healthcare services to persons with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities or older adults; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Health is requested to convene a Fair Labor Home Care Services Task Force to examine the impact of the federal regulation that extends minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the Federal Labor Standards Act to workers who provide essential home care services to persons with disabilities and older adults; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Fair Labor Home Care Services Task Force is requested to:

 

     (1)  Examine whether the Federal Labor Standards Act applies to various shared living arrangements in the State, including adult foster care and community care homes, and the State's current community-based caregivers and home care businesses providing caregiver services in the State;

 

     (2)  Examine whether there is an employment relationship between a covered employer and a nonexempt employee, and whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor;

 

     (3)  Provide guidance on the application of Federal Labor Standards Act to innovative shared living programs and the administration of Medicaid-funded and other home care programs;

 

     (4)  Review the work of direct service workers and develop a test or system to classify whether direct service workers remain independent contractors or become employees;

 

     (5)  Review the Federal Labor Standards Act economic realities test for independent contractors and determine whether it changes the status of a caregiver being an independent contractor or an employee; and

 

     (6)  With respect to essential services provided by developmental disabilities and mental retardation services providers to the State's elderly and disabled adult participants who live in community homes, examine the effect of the federal regulation on home caregivers in the State who provide developmental disabilities and mental retardation Medicaid waiver services under section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act (developmental disabilities and mental retardation waiver services); and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to consist of the following members or their designees:

 

     (1)  The Director of Health, who is requested to serve as the chair of the task force;

 

     (2)  The Director of Human Services; and

 

     (3)  The Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Health is requested to invite the following individuals to become members of the task force:

 

     (1)  Representatives from health insurance plans within the State;

 

     (2)  A representative from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii; and

 

     (3)  Representatives from community care home organizations doing business in Hawaii and providing healthcare services to residents in the State; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force, by majority vote, may select an additional member to assist the task force; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that no member of the task force be deemed subject to chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of that member's participation as a member of the task force; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to submit a report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2017; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Director of Human Services, Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Chief Executive Officer of Hawaii Medical Service Association, President of Hawaii Permanent Medical Group, and the President of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Fair Labor Standards Act; Minimum Wage; Overtime Pay; Casual Babysitters; Domestic Service Workers; Essential Home Care Services; Healthcare;