FLSA Rules for Domestic Workers

As a household employer, you have likely heard about the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). What is the FLSA and what are the FLSA rules for domestic workers?

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor laws affecting full- and part-time workers. Under FLSA’s individual coverage provision, domestic service workers—nannies, housekeepers, senior caregivers, cooks, and so on—are covered if their cash wages from one employer are at least $1,000 per calendar year, or if they work a total of more than eight hours a week for one or more employers.

The FLSA requires employers to pay covered employees at least the minimum wage and overtime pay of one and one-half times the employee’s regular pay rate.

Overtime pay must be paid for work over forty hours per week—with some exceptions. Overtime wages (as required by FLSA) are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered.

It is important to note that non-exempt employees – including domestic employees – must be paid minimum wage or overtime wages by the next workweek’s regular payday; failure to make payments on time violates the FLSA. These violations fall under the category of “liquidated damages,” even if the employer pays the required wages at a later date.

While the FLSA does not state an explicit timeline for paying required wages, “liquidated damages” accrue when required compensation is not paid by the employer on the regular payday for which the workweek ends. So the bottom line is that employers – including household employers – should never assume that simply paying their employee close to on time is good enough; it must be exactly on time or an employer may face FLSA violations.

Please contact GTM’s Household Employment Experts for more information at (888) 432-7972.