Ensuring Access to Affordable and Quality Companion Care Act
Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jun 19, 2012
Ensuring Access to Affordable and Quality Companion Care Act - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, with respect to the exemption from minimum wage and maximum hour requirements of domestic service employment to provide companionship services for individuals who because of age or infirmity are unable to care for themselves, to provide detailed definitions of "companionship services" and "domestic service employment." Excludes from companionship services those relating to the care and protection of the aged or infirm which require and are performed by trained medical personnel.
Extends the exemption to third-party employment of an employee to provide companionship services to such individuals, including non-medical in-home personal care or household work related to their care. Defines "third-party employment" to mean employees who provide companionship services while employed by an employer or agency other than the family or household using their services, whether or not such an employee is assigned to more than one household or family in the same workweek when providing such services.
Exempts from the Act's maximum hour requirements third-party employment in domestic service of an employee who resides in the household in which the services are provided.
Source last updated: Mar 23, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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