Employers of home health care attendants who regularly work 24-hour shifts at clients’ homes are allowed to pay those workers an hourly wage for only about half of the time they spend there under certain conditions, the New York Court of Appeals said in a decision Tuesday.

Associate Judge Jenny Rivera wrote in a split decision from the court that an interpretation of a regulation from the state Department of Labor allows those employers to exclude payment from those workers if they’re able to sleep an appropriate amount and take meal breaks during their shift.