I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2304
To preserve the companionship services exemption for minimum wage and
overtime pay, and the live-in domestic services exemption for overtime
pay, under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mrs. M
ILLERof Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To preserve the companionship services exemption for min-
imum wage and overtime pay, and the live-in domestic
services exemption for overtime pay, under the Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Access to 4
Affordable and Quality Home Care for Seniors and People 5
with Disabilities Act’’. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2304.IH H2304
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 2304 IH
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
Section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 2
(29 U.S.C. 203) is amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(z)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 5
‘companionship services’ as used in section 13(a)(15), 6
means services that provide fellowship, care, and protec-7
tion for individuals who, because of advanced age or phys-8
ical or mental infirmity, are unable to care for themselves, 9
including non-medical in-home personal care (which in-10
cludes assistance with activities of daily living and instru-11
mental activities of daily living) and household work re-12
lated to the care of the aged or infirm individuals (such 13
as meal preparation, bed making, washing of clothes, er-14
rands, assistance to appointments, laundry, medication re-15
minders, bathing, assistance with incontinence and groom-16
ing, and other similar services). Such term may include 17
the performance of general household work, provided that 18
such work does not exceed 20 percent of the total weekly 19
hours worked. 20
‘‘(B) ‘Companionship services’ does not include serv-21
ices relating to the care and protection of the aged or in-22
firm that require and are performed by trained medical 23
personnel, such as a registered or practical nurse. 24
‘‘(2) ‘Domestic service’ as used in subsections (a)(15) 25
and (b)(21) of section 13, means services of a household 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2304.IH H2304
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 2304 IH
nature performed by an employee in or about a private 1
home (permanent or temporary), including employees such 2
as cooks, waiters, butlers, valets, maids, housekeepers, 3
nannies, nurses, janitors, laundresses, caretakers, handy-4
men, gardeners, certified nursing assistants, home care 5
aides, home health aides, personal care aides, chauffeurs 6
of automobiles for family use, and babysitters employed 7
on other than a casual basis. 8
‘‘(3) ‘Third-party employment’ as used in subsections 9
(a)(15) and (b)(21) of section 13, means the employment 10
of any employee who is engaged in providing companion-11
ship services or live-in domestic services and who is em-12
ployed by an employer other than the family or household 13
using the services of the employee, whether or not such 14
employee provides services to more than one family or 15
household in the same workweek.’’. 16
SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF THE COMPANIONSHIP SERVICES 17
EXEMPTION. 18
Paragraph (15) of section 13(a) of the Fair Labor 19
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(15)) is amend-20
ed— 21
(1) by inserting ‘‘(including through third-party 22
employment)’’ after ‘‘companionship services’’; and 23
(2) by striking ‘‘(as such terms are defined and 24
delimited by regulations of the Secretary)’’. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2304.IH H2304
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 2304 IH
SEC. 4. PRESERVATION OF THE LIVE-IN DOMESTIC SERV-1
ICES EXEMPTION. 2
Paragraph (21) of section 13(b) of the Fair Labor 3
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(b)(21)) is amended 4
by inserting ‘‘(including through third-party employ-5
ment)’’ after ‘‘domestic service’’. 6
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2304.IH H2304
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB