Maryland State House

Legislation introduced into the Maryland State Senate proposes to exempt home care workers from collecting unemployment insurance, under certain criteria.

The bill, introduced on January 27, would prohibit home care workers from collecting unemployment insurance if the home care worker:

• signs an agreement with a home care agency that states she/he is an independent contractor;
• is not restricted to the number of home care agencies that she/he may work for; and
• is permitted to negotiate the rate of pay.

Jeopardizes Workplace Protections

“Exempting a whole class of low-wage home health care workers from unemployment insurance based just on their signing an independent contractor agreement with their agency employer is a terrible idea, from a policy and moral standpoint,” said Catherine K. Ruckelshaus, legal co-director,National Employment Law Project (NELP).

The proposed law “would permit home health care agencies to condition employment on signing such an agreement, and would potentially deprive these critical workers of other workplace protections, like minimum wage and workers compensation,” said Ruckelshaus.

NELP joined two other organizations — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees Interntaional Union (SEIU) — in submitting joint testimony against the bill (pdf). The testimony emphasizes that to meet the rapidly increasing demand for skilled and dedicated home care workers, “it is essential that home care workers are afforded the same minimum protections enjoyed by other workers under state and federal law.”

The organizations dispute the proposed legislation on several grounds, including:

• Maryland unemployment law already exempts “true independent contractors”;
• few if any home care agencies prevent their employees from working for other agencies — nor would such a provision be enforceable; and
• all workers are permitted to negotiate a rate of pay with their employer.

Harmful to Workforce and Industry

The testimony argues that if the Senate bill were to pass, it would:

• undermine the purposes of unemployment insurance;
• exacerbate the worker shortage and high turnover already plaguing the industry;
• exclude the very workers who need unemployment insurance the most; and
• encourage abuse and undermine other minimum labor standards and tax laws.

In Maryland, the demand for home health aides and personal and home care aides is projected to increase by 45 and 40 percent, respectively, by 2016 (pdf).

Home care workers throughout the nation are currently excluded from federal wage and hour protections.

The legislation, Senate Bill 303 (pdf), was introduced by State Senator Allan Kittleman (R). It had no co-sponsors.

– by Deane Beebe