Labor Department Gets Wage Appeal Delayed Thanks to Shutdown

The US Labor Department can wait until the government shutdown ends before defending its $15 million victory in an overtime case on appeal, the Sixth Circuit said Wednesday.

The agency sought to either have a panel of judges resolve the appeal based solely on the briefs or delay the argument—scheduled for Oct. 22—because its attorneys can’t perform non-emergency work during the shutdown. The home-care firm challenging the district judge’s ruling welcomed a postponement, and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said it would choose a new date once the shutdown ends.

• The DOL secured summary judgment in its enforcement case against Americare Healthcare Services LLC in January when the district said the firm’s workers are employees who must be paid overtime rates for extra work hours and that no exemption applied
• Americare is one of three home-care firms that have separately been challenging the agency’s wage exemption rule revision and won a new shot at that case last year
• The DOL in its May brief defended the outcome in the district court but noted it “intends to reconsider” regulations prohibiting third-party firms from claiming Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions for some domestic workers

Boyden Gray PLLC—where newly confirmed Labor Department Solicitor Jonathan Berry was managing partner—and Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP represent Americare.

The case is Dep’t of Lab. v. Americare Healthcare Servs. LLC, 6th Cir., No. 25-03128, continuance granted 10/15/25.