Brown Admin Anticipates Giving Overtime Pay to Home Care Workers

Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) administration expects to grant overtime pay to In-Home Supportive Services workers after an appellate court ruled last week that such providers are entitled to overtime pay, Capital Public Radio's "KXJZ News" reports (Orr, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 8/21).

Details of Ruling

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that home health workers were entitled to the right to receive overtime pay and minimum wage rates.

Under the decision, California officials will implement a law that passed last year granting overtime pay to IHSS workers. The California law has been on hold pending court review.

However, if the Court of Appeals decision is appealed to the Supreme Court, the state law would remain on hold pending that ruling (Gorn, California Healthline, 8/24).

For more details on the ruling, see today's "Capitol Desk" post.

Brown Administration's Comments

H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the state Department of Finance, said that $270 million already has been allocated for covering overtime pay for IHSS workers. Under the state law, employees who work more than 40 hours per week would be paid time-and-a-half, up to 66 hours per week.

Palmer said the administration "anticipate[s] that right now the regulations would not come back online until mid-October." However, he added that implementation "could be affected by whether or not there is an appeal of this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court" ("KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 8/21).