Long Island Care at Home v. Coke

The Fair Labor Standards Act guarantees covered workers a minimum wage and overtime. In 1974, Congress amended the Act to expand its coverage. The Labor Department nonetheless claims that the 1974 amendments excluded domestic workers employed by commercial enterprises from the FLSA coverage that had previously applied. The court of appeals rejected that interpreation as untenable, and the amicus brief submitted by the ACLU and other civil rights groups agrees. The amicus brief also highlights how that Labor Department’s interpretation reinforces the historic discrimination suffered by domestic workers, who are disproportionately female and minority.