HR7917Referred to Committee

Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-03-12
Introduced
68
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Democrat · NY · Representative
Votes with party: 96.5% (536 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/O000172

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (68)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

2026-03-12

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

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Plain-English Summary

This bill would require home care workers—people who provide in-home assistance to elderly and disabled individuals—to receive minimum wage and overtime pay protections similar to other workers. Currently, many home care workers are classified as independent contractors or domestic workers and fall outside standard labor protections, often earning very low wages for physically demanding work. The legislation aims to improve pay and working conditions for this workforce, which would likely increase costs for families and government programs that pay for home care services.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Labor and Employment

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 7917 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7917 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to ensure that certain caregiving employees are no longer exempted from overtime and minimum wage protections. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 12, 2026 Ms. Ocasio-Cortez (for herself, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Bell, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Norton, Mrs. McIver, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Ms. Simon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. Carson, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. Bonamici, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Pingree, Ms. McBride, Mr. Kennedy of New York, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Dexter, Mr. Swalwell, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Balint, Mr. Latimer, Ms. Omar, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Mannion, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Strickland, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Nadler, Ms. McClellan, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Adams, Mrs. Grijalva, Ms. Ansari, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Gomez, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Frost, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, and Mr. Takano) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to ensure that certain caregiving employees are no longer exempted from overtime and minimum wage protections. 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 ``Fair Wages for Home Care Workers Act''. SEC. 2. MINIMUM WAGE AND OVERTIME FOR CERTAIN CAREGIVERS. (a) Exemption Amendments.--Section 13 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a)(15), by striking ``casual basis in domestic service employment'' and all that follows through ``of the Secretary)'' and inserting the following: ``casual basis to provide babysitting services''; and (2) by repealing subsection (b)(21). (b) Definitions.--Section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(z) `Babysitting services'-- ``(1) means the custodial care and protection of infants or children in or about a private home in which the infants or children reside; and ``(2) does not include services relating to the care and protection of infants or children which are performed by trained personnel, such as registered, vocational, or practical nurses, and home care workers, including home health aides and personal care aides. ``(aa) `Casual basis', with respect to the provision of babysitting services-- ``(1) means employment which is irregular or intermittent (as defined and delimited by the Secretary), and which is not performed by an individual whose vocation is babysitting; and ``(2) may include the performance of household work not related to the provision of babysitting services, so long as the time performing such work does not exceed 20 percent of the total hours worked while providing babysitting services.''. <all>
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