Home Health and Home Care

The home health and home care industry is unique in that it is a highly regulated and fragmented business sector responsible for successfully caring for the most vulnerable cross-section of our population. Providers are faced with a myriad of challenges, such as:

• Wage and hour class/collective actions asserting unique claims for unpaid travel and sleep time
• Improper pay-per-visit practices
• Whistleblowers alleging false claims for government reimbursement for services
• Increased legislation regulating minimum wages
• Caregiver benefits and training
• Variable schedules and disclosure of caregivers’ personal contact information for union organizing
• Changing regulatory restrictions on how home care agencies are licensed and may operate
• Abuse, theft and neglect allegations
• Diversity in personnel and patient populations
• Workplace harassment and retaliation charges
• HIPAA privacy compliance issues and
• Employment and labor issues arising from mergers and acquisitions of divergent operations tasked with managing a largely remote workforce

Preventing, responding to and resolving the kinds of concerns home health and home care employers face today requires a depth of industry-specific knowledge, strategic planning and creativity that Littler proudly provides daily.

Our Clients

Littler’s Home Health and Home Care Industry Group includes a team of experienced attorneys, representing thousands of clients in the home health and home care field ranging from Fortune 500s, franchise systems, independents, client directed and guardian programs, Medicare-certified home health agencies, Medicaid-waiver agencies, private duty home care agencies and every care delivery service model in between. We also work with many private equity firms, investors and vendors supporting the industry to raise the bar for quality care. Our knowledgeable home health and home care attorneys practice around the world, giving us a unique vantage point to identify trends developing in the courts and legislatures from the local to the international level, as well as an unparalleled opportunity to help coordinate the industry, shape policy and influence those trends.

Our Attorneys

Attorneys in the industry group routinely partner with their colleagues across the firm to defend and protect against class and collective actions, qui tam and employment discrimination claims, counsel on employee benefits, licensing and tax issues, wage and hour and regulatory compliance, privacy and data protection and traditional labor. Simply put, we know your industry and we know how to best navigate the employment and labor laws affecting it. Littler is the first name in home health and home care because we forecast and eliminate potential obstacles before they happen and provide rapid, integrated and innovative solutions to workplace problems that can’t be avoided. We are more than your law firm, we are your partner. Every day, our Home Health and Home Care Industry Group helps agencies manage emerging workplace law issues so that you can focus on continuing to provide the highest quality care to your patients and clients.

Our Services

• FLSA training and compliance
• Advice on employee benefits and tax issues
• Defend class and collective wage and hour lawsuits
• Navigate DOL, IRS and OSHA investigations
• Prepare wellness initiatives and other employee incentive programs
• Development/modification to compensation and employee retention programs
• Draft restrictive covenant agreements, client direct hire protections, and corporate raiding prevention
• Legal aspects of caregiver and client transportation programs
• Draft privacy policies, terms and conditions, client facing agreements, and virtual marketplace materials
• Respond to union organizing and engage in collective bargaining
• Assist Providers in maintaining a union-free workplace
• HIPAA audits, training and compliance including HIPAA compliance packages
• Address employment ramifications of neglect and abuse allegations
• Conduct employment law compliance reviews and prepare state specific employee onboarding packages
• Industry specific labor and employment due diligence for mergers and acquisitions representing both buyers and sellers
• Develop registry and domestic referral agency compliance materials
• Anti-harassment, respectful workplace and employment law training
• Federal, state and municipal-level legislative advocacy – creating and steering provider-led coalitions
• Defend qui tam actions and False Claims Act claims
• Respond to whistleblower and retaliation claims
• Licensure procurement (including assistance with certificates of need and other applications and policy drafting)