Source: https://www.littler.com/new-york-state-supreme-court-finds-24-hour-home-care-attendants-must-be-paid-sleep-and-meal-periods
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 16:56:44+00:00

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New York State Supreme Court Finds 24-Hour Home Care Attendants Must be Paid for Sleep and Meal Periods | Littler Mendelson P.C.
The New York State Department of Labor ("NY DOL") has consistently enforced the New York Labor Law ("NYLL") as permitting third-party employers of 24-hour home care attendants to pay their employees for 13 hours of a 24-hour shift, provided the employee is afforded eight hours of sleep, five of which are uninterrupted, and three uninterrupted hours for meals.1 A recent decision by the New York State Supreme Court (the highest trial-level court for civil cases in the New York state court system) has rejected the NY DOL's interpretation of the NYLL and refused to find binding a New York federal court decision that relied on a 2010 NY DOL Opinion Letter addressing wage practices for home care attendants.2 Instead, in Andryeyeva v. New York Home Attendant Agency, the New York state court found that sleep and meal periods must not be excluded from the hourly wages of a home attendant who does not "reside" in the home of his or her client, and certified a class action of over 1,000 home care attendants who worked 24-hour shifts.3 There are additional cases raising these same issues pending in the New York state court, including at least one other filed by the same plaintiff's firm.4 Therefore, home care agencies operating in New York are at risk of copy-cat litigation and should be diligent with their pay practices.
On March 11, 2010, the NY DOL issued an Opinion Letter, RO-090169,9 relating to live-in companions, that addressed a vendor agency's inquiries regarding wage practices for home care attendants. In the Opinion Letter, the NY DOL's general counsel's office interpreted its own minimum wage order and confirmed that home care attendants working 24-hour shifts who are employed by vendor agencies are considered "non-residential" and must be paid overtime after 40 hours of work per week.
Thus, the NY DOL, in interpreting its own Wage Order, specified that home care attendants who work 24-hour shifts must only be paid for 13 hours, provided the home care attendant was afforded eight hours of sleep, five of which were uninterrupted, and afforded three uninterrupted hours for meals.
The defendant relied on the March 11, 2010 Opinion Letter interpreting the Wage Order in support of its argument that it has the right to deduct sleep and meal time from the putative class members' compensation. The court, however, found the Opinion Letter inapplicable.17 The court focused on two main issues.
The Opinion Letter also states "[i]n interpreting these provisions, it is the opinion and policy of this Department that live-in [not residential] employees must be paid not less than for thirteen hours per twenty-four hour period, provided that they are afforded at least eight hours for sleep and actually receive five hours of uninterrupted sleep, and that they are afforded three hours for meals."20 The Andryeyeva court however, found the March 11, 2010 Opinion Letter inapplicable on the grounds that the employees addressed in the Opinion Letter were residential employees, while the plaintiffs in the case before it were not residential. In the NY DOL’s view, however, this distinction should not have been the determining factor; the Opinion Letter specifically says that the same test applies regardless of whether the attendant is "residential."
In distinguishing Severin, the Andryeyeva court found that the federal court "improperly conflated" the rules applicable to home attendants who provide 24-hour services inclusive of overnight care with the rules applicable to home attendants who are "live-in" residents of their employer's homes.26 However, there is no support for this finding in the Severin decision.
The defendants have appealed the Andryeyeva decision, and it may take over a year to receive a decision on appeal. In the meantime, the law is unsettled with regard to whether third-party employers of home attendants may exclude sleep and meal periods from the home attendants' compensation.
On February 12, 2015, the NY DOL advised the industry at a conference that it will enforce the 13-hour workday pay practice unless the employee has specific records showing that he/she was not afforded eight hours for sleep, five uninterrupted hours, and three uninterrupted hours for meals.
Therefore, it is recommended that if a home health care agency decides to assume the risk of continuing to pay home care attendants working 24-hour shifts on the 13-hour workday pay method, it should keep accurate records of the employee's uninterrupted sleep and meal time and require such attendants to certify the accuracy of the time they submit. Furthermore, to strengthen their position in the event of a lawsuit, employers should enter into agreements with their employees, setting forth the compensation terms and ensuring that the requirements for a reasonable agreement and the criteria necessary to exclude sleep time under the federal regulations are met. Because of the risk associated with the practice of excluding sleep time in light of Andryeyeva, New York home care employers should strongly consider implementing an arbitration program with a class action waiver in order to avoid the cost and expense of a class action lawsuit.
1 This article does not address wage and hour practices where the employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement or employed directly by the patient.
2 Severin v. Project Ohr, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85705 (S.D.N.Y. June 20, 2012).
3 45 Misc. 3d 820 (Sup. Ct. Kings County Sept. 16, 2014) (Demarest, J.) (hereinafter "Andryeyeva"). The Andryeyeva decision is currently pending appeal.
4 Kodirov v. Community Home Care Referral Service, Inc. No. 6870/11 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County) (purported class action brought by same law firm as the Andryeyeva case pending before the same judge); Moreno v. Future Care Health Servs., Inc., No. 500569/13 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County); Melamed v. Americare Certified Special Services, Inc., No. 503171/12 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County).
5Severin, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85707 (citing Settlement Home Care, Inc. v. Indus. Bd. of Appeals of the Dep't of Labor, 151 A.D.2d 580 (2d Dep't 1989)).
13 Andryeyeva, 45 Misc. 3d 820, 822 (Sup. Ct. Kings County Sept. 16, 2014). The Andryeyeva court made its findings regarding pay practices for 24-hour home attendants in the context of its decision on the plaintiffs' motion for class certification. That decision is currently being appealed.
19 March 11, 2010 Opinion Letter, p. 4.
21 Id. p. 2 and fn. 1.
22 Other judges in the New York Supreme Court also found the Opinion Letter unpersuasive or nondispositive of the issues in purported class actions raising similar claims. See, e.g., Moreno v. Future Care Health Servs., Inc., No. 500569/13, 43 Misc. 3d 101(A) (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County Jan. 16, 2014) (denying defendants' motion to dismiss and rejecting defendants' reliance on the March 11, 2010 Opinion Letter as "documentary evidence"); Melamed v. Americare Certified Special Services, Inc., No. 503171/12 2014 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 5512 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County Dec. 11, 2014) (denying defendants' motion to dismiss and finding the Opinion Letter does not definitively dispose of plaintiffs' unpaid wage claims); Kodirov v. Community Home Care Referral Service, Inc. No. 6870/11, 35 Misc. 3d 1221(A) (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County May 8, 2012) (in purported class action brought by same law firm as the Andryeyeva case pending before the same judge, court discounted the relevance of the Opinion Letter).
23 Civil Action No. 10 Civ. 9696, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85705 (June 20, 2012).
Angelo Spinola is a Shareholder in Littler's Atlanta office, and Lisa M. Griffith is a Shareholder in the Long Island, NY office. If you would like further information, please contact your Littler attorney at 1.888.Littler or info@littler.com, Mr. Spinola at aspinola@littler.com, or Ms. Griffith at lgriffith@littler.com.

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