In Massachusetts home care workers are entitled to overtime pay under state law. As such, companions and caregivers for the elderly or infirm are entitled to time and a half after forty hours. The Massachusetts Labor and Workforce Development’s website has a short article discussing how home care workers are entitled to overtime pay.
In Massachusetts, home care companions and caregivers are not exempt from the overtime provisions of state law. They are also entitled to be paid minimum wage and to take an unpaid half hour meal break after six hours of work. A meal break means that the home care companion must be able to leave the house and go out for a half hour.
Home care companies that employ workers to take care of the elderly and the infirm in their own homes may not be following all of the wage and hours relating to minimum wage, payment of overtime and meal break requirements. In 2010 the Massachusetts Attorney General cited a home care company in Tewksbury for failing to pay all of the wages of its employees. See a short write-up of that incident here.
If you have any questions about the information in this article, please contact Labor and Employment Attorney Maura Greene, Law Office of Maura Greene, Six Beacon St., Suite 205, Boston, MA 02108, at 617-935-1580, for a free consultation.