Compliance
Home Care Overtime Rules: What Agencies Owe Caregivers
Since 2015, home care agencies must pay caregivers overtime after 40 hours in a workweek. How the rule works, what counts as hours worked, and which states add daily overtime.
Wisconsin overtime rules for home care workers
Last verified October 28, 2026 · All Wisconsin resources
In Wisconsin, overtime is time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a workweek. The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The federal Home Care Rule bars agencies from the companionship and live-in exemptions, though the Department of Labor stopped enforcing it against agencies in July 2025 while it considers undoing it. Wisconsin's own law also requires overtime for agency caregivers, with limits explained below.
What are Wisconsin's overtime and minimum wage rules?
| Minimum wage | $7.25 an hour |
|---|---|
| Weekly overtime | After 40 hours |
| Daily overtime | None |
Does Wisconsin law require overtime for agency caregivers?
Yes, for for-profit agencies. Wisconsin's overtime rule excludes only domestic workers employed in a household by the household (DWD 274.015), and the state labor department says companions placed in homes by a for-profit employer are owed overtime after 40 hours. It also says the overtime rule does not apply to most nonprofit organizations.
Does Wisconsin have special rules for home care workers?
Wisconsin's state overtime rule (Wis. Admin. Code DWD 274) does not apply to employees employed in domestic service in a household by a household (DWD 274.015), so caregivers employed by an agency remain covered by state overtime after 40 hours.
Can sleep time be unpaid on 24-hour shifts in Wisconsin?
On duty of 24 consecutive hours or more, a mutual written agreement may exclude meal periods and up to 8 hours of sleep if adequate sleeping facilities are provided and sleep is usually uninterrupted. Full-time live-in and relief caregivers may have up to 8 hours a night of uninterrupted sleep excluded only with private quarters in a homelike environment and an advance agreement (DWD 272.12).
Calculate a week of overtime in Wisconsin
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More for Wisconsin
Overtime rules by state: other states
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