34-06-03.1. Exemption for companionship services and family home care

34-06-03.1. Exemption for companionship services and family home care 1. Employees who provide companionship services for individuals who, because of age or disability, are unable to care for themselves are exempt from any minimum wage and hour standards that may be prescribed under this chapter, to the extent that those companionship services are provided by an employee from ten p.m. to nine a.m., up to a total of eight hours, during which time the employee is available to perform duties for the aged or disabled individual, but is free to sleep and otherwise engage in normal private pursuits in the aged or disabled individual's home. Employees who provide companionship services are not entitled to any overtime premium that may be prescribed under this chapter. 2. An individual who provides family home care is exempt from any minimum wage and hour standards that may be prescribed under this chapter. 3. An individual who contracts with an elderly or disabled person, or a spouse or relative of an elderly or disabled person as described in subdivision b of subsection 4, to provide room, board, supervisory care, and personal services to that elderly or disabled person is exempt from any minimum wage and hour standards that may be prescribed under this chapter. 4. As used in this section: a. "Companionship services" means those services that provide fellowship, care, and protection for individuals who, because of advanced age or physical or mental disabilities, cannot care for their own needs. Those services may include household work related to the care of the aged or disabled person, including meal preparation, bed making, washing of clothes, and other similar services, and may include the performance of general household work if that work does not exceed twenty percent of the total weekly hours worked. "Companionship services" do not include services relating to the care and protection of the aged or disabled which require and are performed by trained personnel, including a registered or practical nurse, and do not include individuals who provide care and protection for infants and young children who are not physically or mentally disabled. b. "Family home care" means the provision of room, board, supervisory care, and personal services to an eligible elderly or disabled person by the spouse or by one of the following relatives, or the current or former spouse of one of the following relatives, of the elderly or disabled person: parent, grandparent, adult child, adult sibling, adult grandchild, adult niece, or adult nephew.