[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5970 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5970

  To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from finalizing a proposed rule 
relating to the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
                      domestic service employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2012

  Mr. Walberg (for himself, Mr. Terry, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Rokita, Mr. 
   Gowdy, and Mrs. Schmidt) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from finalizing a proposed rule 
relating to the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
                      domestic service employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting In-Home Care from 
Government Intrusion Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States has a growing number of the elderly 
        and individuals with disabilities who depend on companion care 
        to live in their own homes.
            (2) In 1974, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act 
        of 1938 to ensure the elderly and individuals with disabilities 
        have access to affordable companion care by exempting such care 
        from overtime and minimum wage requirements.
            (3) Regulations proposed by the Department of Labor will 
        adversely impact access to companion care for the elderly and 
        individuals with disabilities by increasing the cost of care.
            (4) With the increased cost of companion care brought on by 
        the proposed regulations, many of the elderly and individuals 
        with disabilities will not be able to afford in-home care and 
        instead may be forced to enter institutional care settings.
            (5) The proposed regulations will shift companion care for 
        the elderly and individuals with disabilities to a labor market 
        where caregivers receive insufficient background screening, 
        training, and supervision.
            (6) The proposed regulations will reduce and limit the 
        overall incomes of caregivers and restrict their working hours 
        as employers are forced to control additional costs that cannot 
        be absorbed by the vulnerable clients and taxpayer-funded 
        programs financing companion care.
            (7) The proposed regulations will raise costs for the small 
        businesses that provide companion care by increasing caregiver 
        turnover rates and hiring, training, supervision, and 
        compensation costs.
            (8) In-home care is the mode of care preferred by the 
        elderly and individuals with disabilities in terms of cost, 
        quality of life, and service satisfaction, all of which are 
        jeopardized by the proposed regulations.

SEC. 3. RULE RELATING TO DOMESTIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES.

    The Secretary of Labor shall not finalize or enforce the proposed 
rule entitled ``Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic 
Service'' and published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2011 
(76 Fed. Reg. 81190) or any substantially similar rule.
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