29 CFR § 525.4 - Patient workers.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t29/s525.4"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "29 CFR § 525.4 - Patient workers."
title_number: 29
title_name: "Labor"
section_number: "525.4"
section_name: "Patient workers."
chapter_name: "WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "REGULATIONS"
part_number: "525"
part_name: "EMPLOYMENT OF WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES UNDER SPECIAL CERTIFICATES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "52 Stat. 1060, as amended (29 U.S.C. 201-219); Pub. L. 99-486, 100 Stat. 1229 (29 U.S.C. 214)."
regulatory_source: "54 FR 32928, Aug. 10, 1989, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "525"
---


# 525.4 Patient workers.

With respect to patient workers, as defined in § 525.3(e), a major factor in determining if an employment relationship exists is whether the work performed is of any consequential economic benefit to the institution. Generally, work shall be considered to be of consequential economic benefit if it is of the type that workers without disabilities normally perform, in whole or in part in the institution or elsewhere. However, a patient does not become an employee if he or she merely performs personal housekeeping chores, such as maintaining his or her own quarters, or receives a token remuneration in connection with such services. It may also be possible for patients in family-like settings such as group homes to rotate or share household tasks or chores without becoming employees.