The fight over home care overtime is not over.  On December 23, 2015, the Attorneys General for twelve states filed a brief Amici Curiae with the Supreme Court of The United States in support of the appeal filed the the Home Care Association of America, et al.  The states are supporting the appeal because of the increased costs to the states for overtime pay for in-home caregivers through the state Medicaid programs.

According to the brief …

“The Department’s new position will in fact harm many of the very people Congress intended to assisted – the aged and inform who can remain in their homes with support services (rather than being institutionalized).  In Kansas alone, 25,000 individuals rely on a Medicaid-funded program to provide the care they need to live independently.  The new rule, however, may result in vastly increased expenses for Kansas and the other Amici States, expenses that likely can be covered only by reducing the number of people the programs serve.

Moreover, the rule significantly alters the cooperative federalism that the States relied upon when they agreed to participate in the Medicaid Program.  The Department is attempting to subject the Amici States to liability that Congress did not contemplate and which the States did not agree to bear. Because the Department’s new position is contrary to congressional intent, harms the very citizens Congress intended to protect, and intrudes on state sovereignty, the Department’s rule should be struck down.”

The States Attorney’s General who signed on to this Amici brief include Kansas, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The U.S. Supreme Court in September denied the industry’s application for a stay of the appellate court decision, triggering the new rule to go into effect on Oct. 13 2015. Enforcement of the DOL rule officially began in November.