Federal Appeals Court Denies Motion For Stay from Home Care Association

Our previous post titled, “Home Care Rule Enforcement: November 13, 2015” referenced details regarding the proposed effective date of the Fair Labor Standards Act Home Care Rule. This was a proposed effective date because of the possibility that the home care association would file a stay of the appeals court decision on August 21, 2015. The motion for this stay occurred, and it was promptly denied by a federal appeals court in Washington DC, issued on September 18, 2015. The following news release article below is credited to CDCAN, and elaborates on how the federal appeals court denied motion for stay from home care association, as well as the possibility of another appeal.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DENIES MOTION FOR STAY FROM HOME CARE ASSOCIATION – APPEAL TO US SUPREME COURT WILL CONTINUE BUT WITHOUT A STAY OF APPEALS COURT ORDER

SACRAMENTO, CA [CDCAN LAST UPDATED 09/18/2015 03:06 PM] – Barring another appeal, Federal overtime regulations for previously exempted home care workers will go into effect in mid-November following a federal appeals court order issued today in Washington, DC that denied a motion by home care associations for a stay of the appeals court decision of August 21st that ruled in favor of the US Department of Labor, reinstating those regulations that a lower federal court in January had struck down.  The appeals court also issued an order denying a motion by the US Department of Labor that asked the court to expedite or speed up the time period when its August 21st decision would take effect.
    Under normal appeals court rules, a decision by the appeals court takes effect 52 days after it is handed down (45 days to allow either party to appeal its decision, and another 7 days after that for the court clerk to file the decision to make it official).  That would make the August 21st court order effective on October 13th.  However the US Department of Labor previously posted an announcement on its website that the federal regulations on overtime for previously exempted workers would take effect 30 days AFTER the August 21st court order went into effect, which would mean sometime in mid-November.
    The plaintiffs – those who filed the original lawsuit trying to stop the regulations – had wanted a longer delay or a stay of the August 21st ruling while they appealed the case to the US Supreme Court.  That appeal to the high court will continue – but the federal regulations, barring other legal action – can take effect while that appeal to the US Supreme goes forward.
    In California, state officials previously said it would implement the state overtime provisions when pending lawsuit was resolved. Some officials have indicated that “resolved” means “clarified”, so that if the federal appeals court denies the request (motion) of the home care associations to further delay its order beyond October 13th while the case is being appealed, that the State would seemingly have the authority or green light to implement overtime 30 days or so after that when the federal government indicated it would implement the regulations (barring a further delay by the appeals court).  However no official word from state officials on implementation has been released. 

TEXT OF THE APPEALS COURT ORDER ISSUED TODAY

No. 15-5018 September Term, 2015
1:14-cv-00967-RJL
Filed On: September 18, 2015
 
Home Care Association Of America, et al.,
Appellees
v.
David Weil, sued in his official capacity,
Administrator, Wage & Hour Division, et al.,
Appellants
 
BEFORE: Griffith, Srinivasan, and Pillard, Circuit Judges
 
O R D E R
Upon consideration of appellees’ motion for stay of the mandate pending the filing of a petition for writ of certiorari, the opposition thereto, and the reply; and appellants’ motion for expedited issuance of the mandate, the opposition thereto, and the reply, it is ORDERED that the motions be denied.
 
Per Curiam
 
FOR THE COURT:
Mark J. Langer, Clerk
BY: /s/
Michael C. McGrail
Deputy Clerk

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