Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA)

A new bill that seeks to address critical direct-care workforce issues — including extending federal wage and overtime protections to home care workers — was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 28.

If enacted, the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act (H.R. 5902), sponsored by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), would:

• extend wage and overtime protections provided through the Fair Labor Standards Act to home care workers;
• establish data collection and reporting requirements to monitor important workforce indicators such as size, compensation levels, turnover rates and vacancies; and
• provide grants to states to expand and support efforts aimed at recruiting, training and retaining an adequate supply of direct care workers.

“One of America’s fastest-growing workforces, home care aides have been treated by the Department of Labor as a contingent workforce for too long,” PHI President Steven Dawson said in a statement released in support of the bill.

Dawson noted that the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act follows on the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which included several important provisions — including additional training funds, a National Healthcare Workforce Commission, and a Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel — addressing the needs of this workforce.

Pressing DOL to End Companionship Exemption

“Through our Campaign for Fair Pay, PHI and our allies continue to press the Department of Labor to immediately address this issue by ending the ‘companionship exemption’ for workers who provide care and support to elders and to persons with disabilities,” Dawson said.

PHI and other organizations are calling on Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis to make a regulatory fix to end the companionship exemption. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the DOL’s authority to define “exceptions” to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in a case brought by the late Evelyn Coke (pdf), a New York home care aide.

“Because more than 75 percent of long-term care is financed by federal programs, government needs to be part of the solution,” the Direct Care Alliance explains on its website.

“I am here to say that our nation’s laws should respect all hard-working Americans equally,” Rep. Sánchez said. “No matter whether you sit behind a corporate desk or care for an elderly person in a home, all work has dignity.”

The Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act currently has 28 co-sponsors.

– by Deane Beebe

Over the last several weeks, direct-care workers have received attention in the press.

Newsday Op-Ed

Newsday published an op-ed (pdf) co-written by PHI President Steven Dawson and Direct Care Alliance Executive Director Leonila Vega to pay tribute to the “American heroine” Evelyn Coke on the one-year anniversary of her death.

Coke, a home care worker, fought the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “companionship exemption.”

“In honor of Coke and the millions of home care workers nationwide, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis should immediately provide all home care workers with the minimum wage and overtime protections promised to American workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” wrote Dawson and Vega.

New York Times Blog Posts

The New York Times reports in its New Old Age Blog on the relationship between quality care in nursing homes and high turnover of nurses’ aides.

Reporter Dale Russakoff shares her personal experience with finding a nursing home for her mother 10 years ago. She writes that what has changed since then is that “the federal government and the states have all identified the turnover rate as a crisis in long-term care.”

PHI Director of Curriculum and Workforce Development Peggy Powell confirms Russakoff’s observations and is quoted as saying, “Cycling in aides who don’t know you is very disorienting and upsetting, and the resident is the one who suffers on the quality end.”

In another New York Times blog post, Nancy Folbre, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, argues for creating more jobs by providing increased federal support for home care services and cites two reports to make her case.

More Media Coverage

More news on the direct-care workforce, including a letter (pdf) to the editor published in the Boston Globe on how Massachusetts health care reform left direct-care workers behind, can be found at the PHI Newsroom.

– by Deane Beebe

Evelyn Coke

An op-ed (pdf) co-written by PHI President Steven Dawson and published in the July 22 Newsday pays tribute to the “American heroine” Evelyn Coke.

The full article, by Dawson and Direct Care Alliance executive director Leonila Vega, can be found below or at the Newsday website.

Support the campaign on Facebook. Find more information at the PHI PolicyWorks website, or by watching PHI’s video, Fair Pay for Caregivers: A Tribute to Evelyn Coke.

Companions need a helping hand

Too many home health care workers are still subjected to unfair labor practices

By Steven Dawson and Leonila Vega

A year ago this month, an American heroine passed away. Her name was Evelyn Coke. She wasn’t well-known, but hopefully someday Coke will be remembered for battling unfair labor practices.

Evelyn Coke was a resident of Queens who worked for an East Meadow-based home-care agency. She was among the 2 million workers — many immigrants like herself — who assist elders and people with disabilities with daily activities such as getting in and out of bed, dressing and undressing, cooking and eating, toileting and bathing. As we age, many of us will need this support to remain independent, living in our homes and communities with our families and friends.

Like many of her co-workers, Coke worked long hours for little pay. Though she sometimes cared for her clients more than 70 hours a week, she claimed to have earned less than minimum wage (which was $5.15 per hour in 2002). Despite sometimes working three 24-hour shifts in a row, she never received time and a half for overtime.

Forced to retire after an auto accident, Coke believed that she had been treated unfairly, and sued her employer for back wages. Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court. But unfortunately, Coke lost.

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor regulations excluding home care workers from the labor protections provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act were valid and binding. That is, the Labor Department could continue to treat home-care workers as informal “companions” — that is to say, baby-sitters.

The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled that the secretary of labor had broad policy-making authority over the scope of “companionship” and could change the current interpretation at any time.

It is past time to make that change.

While New York State just passed a landmark Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, the legislation states that “domestic worker” does not include any individual who is engaged in providing “companionship services” as currently defined by the regulations for the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, or domestic workers who are employed by agencies. So thousands of direct-care workers in New York fall outside of its protections.

Home care is one of America’s fastest-growing occupations. Far from casual companions, these workers play a critical role in our health care system, not only helping their clients live at home, but providing essential supports that keep them out of costly hospitals and nursing facilities. As we move forward with implementing health reform, home care workers can play a crucial role in coordinated care models and in care transitions — important changes that can improve care and save money. We should recognize their contribution by treating them like the professionals they are.

Evelyn Coke had the courage to speak up for herself and her co-workers. She had faith in the American system of justice, believing that even she, an immigrant who never earned more than minimum wage, could ask to be treated fairly. It’s unfortunate that she didn’t live to see justice done.

But there’s new hope for her battle for justice now that the Department of Labor has announced it is studying the companionship exemption.

Before the Labor Department’s announcement, several members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives had requested that the department fix this injustice. Within the next few weeks, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) is planning to introduce legislation that would put an end to the home care workers exemption.

In honor of Coke and the millions of home care workers nationwide, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis should immediately provide all home care workers with the minimum wage and overtime protections promised to American workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

We cannot tolerate this injustice any longer.

Evelyn Coke

June 11 is the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Evelyn Coke vs. Long Island Care at Home, in which the Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor could continue to exclude home care aides from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage and hour protections. Read the full story

PHI and the Direct Care Alliance (DCA) have renewed their commitment to collaborate more closely to achieve their common goal to improve the quality of eldercare and disability services by improving the quality of direct-care jobs. Read the full story

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) plans to review the companionship exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), according to the latest DOL regulatory agenda. Read the full story