How do I stop my caregivers from going into overtime?
Watch each caregiver’s hours during the week, not after payday. Overtime starts after 40 hours, and travel between clients counts. Spread extra shifts among caregivers who are under 40, and make sure whoever covers is trained and cleared for that client. Do not move hours off the books.
Under the federal home care rule, overtime applies once a covered worker goes over 40 hours in a week. Because travel between clients counts as work time, hours add up faster than most owners expect.
Ways to keep overtime down without cutting care:
- Look at weekly totals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Do not wait for payroll.
- Give open shifts to the person with the lowest hours who is trained for that client.
- Cluster visits by area, so there is less driving between them.
- Keep a few part-time people who want more hours.
- Plan for call-outs, because covering a call-out is where most surprise overtime comes from.
What not to do:
- Do not ask someone to clock out and keep working. That is a wage violation.
- Do not split hours across two pay periods to hide them.
- Do not put a caregiver on a client they are not trained for just to fill a gap. Georgia’s private home care rule says no personal care assistant may be assigned a task before required training is complete.
A small amount of planned overtime is often cheaper than losing a client.
Sources
- Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service; Final Rule (Federal Register, Oct 1, 2013) · U.S. Department of Labor (Federal Register)
- Home Care: Information for Agencies · U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-8-65-.09 Administration and Organization (private home care providers) · Cornell Legal Information Institute (Georgia rules)
Reviewed by Beth Bledsoe, Care Business Advisor®, 28 Oct 2026. Rules change. Confirm with your state Medicaid agency before you act.
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