Home Care Worker Wage Parity Law: 2026 Pay Floor and Notices

New York’s Home Care Worker Wage Parity Law requires downstate agencies to pay Medicaid-funded home care aides a minimum total compensation that combines a base wage with a supplemental benefit. As of January 1, 2026, that floor is $23.74 per hour in New York City and $22.87 per hour in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. The rule is codified at Public Health Law § 3614-c and applies to every hour of Medicaid-reimbursed home care, along with notice, recordkeeping, and annual certification duties.

Who the Law Covers

The mandate reaches home care services delivered within New York City and the three suburban counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. Agencies operating elsewhere in the state are not subject to these specific rates, though they still owe standard minimum wage and labor protections.

On the employer side, the statute binds certified home health agencies, long-term home health care programs, and managed care organizations that arrange Medicaid-funded home care. Licensed home care services agencies and fiscal intermediaries that contract with those entities to actually deliver the care must comply as well. The agency signing the aide’s paycheck carries the day-to-day duty to meet the floor; the managed care plan or certified agency holding the Medicaid contract must verify compliance through written certifications filed with the Department of Health.¹

Covered workers are personal care aides and certified home health aides performing Medicaid-reimbursed work in the covered counties. Registered nurses, occupational therapists, and other licensed professionals fall outside this statute; their pay is governed by separate professional and reimbursement standards.¹

The 2026 Pay Floor

Total compensation has two pieces: a base wage and a supplemental benefit. The base wage tracks the home care aide minimum wage, which is $19.65 per hour effective January 1, 2026, for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester.² The supplemental benefit is a fixed hourly amount added on top.

The required supplement is $4.09 per hour in New York City and $3.22 per hour in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester.¹ That produces the following minimums for every Medicaid-reimbursed hour worked:

New York City: $19.65 base plus $4.09 supplement equals $23.74 per hour
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester: $19.65 base plus $3.22 supplement equals $22.87 per hour

Paying above the base wage does not reduce the supplement owed. The statute is explicit that cash paid because of a minimum wage increase cannot be credited toward the benefit portion.³

What Counts Toward the Supplemental Benefit

The supplement can be delivered through actual fringe benefits, cash, or a mix. The statute lists health, education, and pension benefits, wage differentials, compensated time off, and supplements paid in lieu of benefits.³ In practice, employers most often use:

Employer-paid premiums for medical, dental, and vision coverage
Employer contributions to 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plans
Life and disability insurance premiums paid by the employer
Paid vacation, sick, and personal days accrued on hours worked
Tuition assistance or training program costs
Transit passes or transportation subsidies for travel between patient homes

Every dollar claimed toward the supplement must reach the aide’s benefit. The statute prohibits any portion from returning to the agency, its owners, or related entities as a refund, dividend, or profit.³

Cash in Lieu of Benefits

When fringe benefits do not reach the supplemental threshold, the shortfall must be paid to the aide as additional cash wages. This routinely applies to aides who already have health coverage through a spouse and decline the employer plan. The cash payment satisfies the parity obligation, but the IRS treats cash paid in lieu of qualified benefits as taxable income subject to regular withholding.⁴ Aides paid the full supplement in cash keep less after taxes than aides receiving equivalent value as untaxed insurance premiums.

The Overtime Wrinkle

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employer contributions to a bona fide benefits plan are excluded from the “regular rate” used to calculate time-and-a-half overtime.⁵ Contributions must go irrevocably to a trustee or third party, and employees generally cannot have the option to take them as cash.⁶ Cash paid in lieu of benefits may therefore have to be folded into the regular rate, raising the overtime rate the aide is owed.

The Notice Every Aide Should Receive

Each covered aide must get a written notice breaking down the supplemental portion of pay. It states the hourly rate, describes the type of supplement provided, and lists the names and addresses of benefit providers along with any plan or agreement that creates each benefit. Employers should use Department of Labor template LS 62.¹

The notice is issued at hire and reissued whenever pay information changes. It must be provided in English and in the aide’s primary language when the Department of Labor has published a template in that language. The aide signs and dates it, keeps a copy, and the employer retains the signed original for six years.¹

Annual Filings and Recordkeeping

Licensed home care services agencies and fiscal intermediaries that directly employ aides complete Department of Labor form LS 300 each calendar year, documenting total covered hours and itemizing spending on each category of supplemental benefit. Form LS 301 accompanies it, requiring the employer to certify accuracy and attach an independent auditor’s agreed-upon procedures report.⁷ These records must be retained for ten years and produced to the Departments of Health and Labor on request.

Certified home health agencies, managed care organizations, and long-term home health care programs that contract out aide services file an Annual Certification of Compliance with the Department of Health. The standard deadline is December 1 of each year for the current calendar year, submitted through the eMedNY Provider Portal.⁸ The 2025 certification has a transitional due date of May 31, 2026. An officer must attest to the accuracy of the data, and the portal receipt should be saved for audit.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Willfully paying less than the required minimums is a misdemeanor under Public Health Law § 3614-c. A first offense carries a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to 30 days, or both. A second offense brings a $1,000 fine and forfeiture of the contract on which the violation occurred; after a second conviction, the entity loses entitlement to any state payment for work performed under that contract. Anyone who signs a compliance certification knowing it to be false commits perjury under the penal law.³

The bigger financial risk sits at the federal level. Because wage parity compliance is a condition of Medicaid reimbursement, agencies that certify compliance while underpaying aides can face the federal False Claims Act. In one enforcement action, a group of Brooklyn-based home care agencies settled for $9.75 million in False Claims Act penalties and agreed to pay an additional $7.5 million in back wages and benefits to underpaid aides.⁹ The federal exposure runs orders of magnitude above the state fines, which is why the annual certification is treated as more than paperwork.

1
New York State Department of Labor. Home Health Care Aides and Wage Parity
2
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage for Home Care Aides (FARE Grant)
3
New York State Senate. New York Public Health Law PBH 3614-C – Home Care Worker Wage Parity
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-B (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours
6
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 778 Subpart C – Payments That May Be Excluded From the Regular Rate
7
New York State Department of Labor. Employer’s Statement Verifying Wage Parity Hours and Expenses (LS301)
8
New York State Department of Health. Updates to Wage Parity Compliance Forms and Certification Submission Dates
9
United States Department of Justice. Brooklyn-Based Home Health Care Agencies Settle Fraud Claims for $9.75 Million and Agree to Pay $7.5 Million in Wages and Benefits to Underpaid Aides