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Tips for Home Health Care Workers: Protecting Your Right to Overtime

As a home health care worker, the main duty that you often perform is providing companion services to those who cannot care for themselves. This means preparing meals, changing bedding, or bathing the helpless individual.

But it is common knowledge that often a home health care employee does general household work as well. This can include doing the laundry, washing dishes, or cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and other common areas.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a home health care worker is entitled to overtime and minimum wage pay only if certain guidelines are met. One is if the home health care worker performs general household work more than 20% of the time, and the other is if that worker is a nurse, certified nurse's aide, or other trained personnel.

To ensure that your paycheck properly reflects the work you have done, the Texas home health care overtime attorneys at Kennedy Hodges suggest following these tips:

• Get a complete job description before you start working: Make sure to find out exactly what your tasks will be and how you are expected to handle requests by the family for tasks outside of that description.

• Document everything you do in and around the home: Keeping a daily journal of the tasks you have completed and the time spent on each one can help you prove your right to overtime.

• Make note of the condition of the home: If there is laundry piled up everywhere or dirty dishes constantly in the sink, write it in your diary of tasks in case you are asked about the conditions at a later date.

• Keep record of who has asked you to do what: Chances are that visitors might come in and out of the house with special requests. Write down those requests and who they were from, as well as whether or not you completed them.

Still unsure if you are entitled to overtime as a home health care worker? Order a free copy of Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Wage and Overtime Claim by calling Kennedy Hodges at 888.449.2068. You also can request a free consultation, during which you can outline your job duties and an attorney will help you figure out your entitlement to overtime and minimum wages under the FLSA. Simply fill out our online form to have someone from our office contact you immediately.