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.
How much overtime is this week?
Enter one caregiver's hours for each day and their wage. You'll get regular hours, overtime, double time and total pay under your state's rules. Works for owners checking payroll and for caregivers checking a paycheck.
Last reviewed November 6, 2026
Texas rule: No separate state overtime threshold listed Texas overtime rules for home care workers
This week
No overtime. 40 hours of room before 40.
Hours worked0 hrs
Regular hours0 × $11.65 = $0.00
Overtime (1.5×)0 × $17.48 = $0.00
Double time (2×)0 × $23.30 = $0.00
Total pay before taxes$0.00
The overtime premium is the extra half (or extra full rate for double time) above straight pay: $0.00 this week. Bonuses and shift differentials raise the overtime rate, so treat this as the minimum.
The rules applied
Weekly 40 under federal law. Daily thresholds in four states.
- Federal (all states)
- Time and a half after 40 hours in the workweek, across all clients. Travel time between clients counts. Under the 2013 Home Care Rule, still in effect, agencies cannot use the companionship or live-in exemptions. The U.S. Department of Labor stopped enforcing that rule in July 2025 (FAB 2025-4) and has proposed rescinding it; until a final rule takes effect, private lawsuits and state laws still apply.
- California
- Personal attendants, including those employed by agencies: overtime after 9 hours in a day or 40 in a week (Labor Code 1450 to 1454). Caregivers who spend more than 20% of their time on housework fall under Wage Order 15: after 8 hours a day, double time after 12, and seventh-day rules. IHSS providers follow separate rules.
- Alaska
- Daily overtime after 8 hours, plus weekly after 40 (AS 23.10.060). Employers with fewer than 4 employees are exempt from the state rule.
- Colorado
- Daily overtime after 12 hours or 12 consecutive hours, plus weekly after 40.
- Nevada
- Daily overtime after 8 hours for employees earning less than 1.5× the state minimum wage, plus weekly after 40.
- Kentucky
- Seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek is paid at 1.5×.
Since January 2015 the federal Home Care Rule has required agencies to pay overtime to every caregiver they employ, including companions and live-ins. The premium is computed on the regular rate, which includes non-discretionary bonuses and differentials; this tool uses the base wage, so the real figure is slightly higher when you pay pickup bonuses. Source: U.S. DOL, Home Care; DOL state minimum wage and overtime table, July 1, 2026.
How Caregiver Scheduling handles this
Timesheets and QuickBooks are coming soon. Overtime will be flagged by your state’s daily and weekly rules before payroll, and approved hours will go to QuickBooks Online with regular, overtime and travel hours kept separate. See timesheets and QuickBooks (coming soon).
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Time spent driving from one client to the next during the workday is hours worked under the FLSA. The commute from home to the first client and from the last client home is not. Many agencies lose overtime cases on this point alone.
Yes. The agency is the employer; hours for all its clients are added together for the week. Hours the caregiver works for a different agency or privately are not combined with yours.
Agencies owe live-in caregivers overtime after 40 hours too. Sleep time and meal periods can be excluded only with a written agreement and only when the caregiver actually gets them. New York counts residential workers after 44 hours in a payroll week.
It is 1.5× the regular rate, which includes non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials and pickup bonuses averaged over the hours. This tool shows the premium on the base wage, so treat the dollar figure as the floor.
No. Each workweek stands alone, even on a biweekly payroll. A 48-hour week followed by a 32-hour week is 8 hours of overtime.
Related guides
Compliance
Which States Require Daily Overtime for Caregivers?
California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado require overtime after a set number of hours in a day. What each rule says, with sources, and what it does to 10-, 12- and 24-hour shifts.
Compliance
Overtime for Caregivers Who Work for Two Clients in One Week
Hours for every client you assign a caregiver add up in one workweek. Over 40 is overtime at a weighted-average rate. How to calculate it and when a private family's hours count.
Compliance
Do Home Care Agencies Have to Pay Caregivers Overtime?
Yes. Since January 1, 2015, agencies cannot use the companionship or live-in exemptions, so every caregiver gets time-and-a-half after 40 hours. Who is covered, what counts, and the 2025 proposal to change it.
These free tools are made by the team behind Caregiver Scheduling, caregiver scheduling software for home care agencies.
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