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The National Council of La Raza‘s (NCLA) February Latino Employment Report focuses on Latinos in the direct-care workforce and calls for revising the “companionship exemption” under the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to extend home care workers basic minimum wage and overtime protections.

“Caring for Caregivers: Latinos in the Direct-Care Workforce” (pdf) reports that 15.4 percent — about 520,000 people — of the approximately 3.4 million direct-care workers in the United States is Latino.

It states that 23 percent of the direct-care workforce is foreign-born — compared to 15.8 percent of the general employee population — and notes that Latinos constitute almost half of the foreign-born workers in the U.S.

Latinos are more likely to be employed as personal care aides (17.6 percent) than home health, nurse, or psychiatric aides (14.7 percent), according to the report.

The reason for the disparity, the researchers suggest, is that more formalized training is required for home health, nurse, and psychiatric aides. Nearly half (49 percent) of Latino adults who are foreign-born and 31.2 percent who are native-born do not have a high school diploma, making the training for these higher-paying jobs more challenging.

Benefits of Industry Growth Not Passed on to the Workforce

Today, home health aides and personal care aides are, respectively, the third and fourth fastest-growing occupations in the nation (pdf) and among the top five occupations creating the largest number of jobs.

With the rising population of baby boomers, it is projected that the direct-care service industry will grow by 58 percent over the next decade — one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation.

The Latino Employment Report says that “while the home care industry will continue to see high growth and increasing revenue, the benefits of this growth are not passed on to the workforce.”

In particular, the report concludes that the “companionship exemption,” which excludes these workers from federal minimum wage and overtime protections, has taken a “direct toll” on the wages of personal care and home health aides.

NCLA encourages providers, recipients, and advocates of direct care to comment in support of the U.S. Department of Labor‘s proposed rule to revise the companionship exemption.

– by Deane Beebe

Articles in support of paying home care workers fairly have recently appeared in The New York Times and at MomsRising.org.

The New York Times

In “Fair Pay for Home Health Aides,” published on February 8 in The New York Times‘ “The New Old Age” blog, contributing writer Paula Span encourages readers to “weigh in” in support of the Obama Administration’s proposal to revise the “companionship exemption” in order to extend basic federal minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers.

“These are demanding, poorly paid jobs with high injury rates and high turnover,” Span wrote. “If we don’t make them more attractive, will our aging nation be able to find the many additional home care workers we will need in the years ahead?”

MomsRising.org

PHI Vice President Jodi Sturgeon blogged about how home care workers deserve fair pay in “Home Care Workers Excluded from Federal Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections,” published at MomsRising.org on February 3.

“Often, the family caregivers who make it possible for their loved ones to remain independent — either at a distance, nearby, or living with their children — depend on home care workers to supplement their caregiving,” Sturgeon wrote. “It takes a team to help someone who is frail or struggling with one or more chronic diseases to remain in the home.”

For more information on the companionship exemption, visit the PHI Fair Pay for Home Care Workers site.

– by Deane Beebe

A half-day forum entitled Innovations in Care Coordination: Rethinking the Role of Home Care Workers will be hosted by PHI and SEIU on March 1 in Washington, DC, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Senator Robert Casey (D-PA), who introduced a bill in December to test models that expand the role of direct-care workers, is the Senate sponsor.

The event will provide an opportunity to discuss, explore, and define innovative ways home care workers can help improve the delivery of long-term services and supports.

During this time of health care transformation, participants will consider the potential for home care workers to:

• take on additional care responsibilities;
• contribute as a proactive member of the healthcare team; and
• help achieve the goals of better care at lower costs.

Speakers

Perspectives will be heard from individuals and families; home care providers and workers; and national policymakers and heath care experts, including:

• Bruce Vladeck, PhD, Senior Advisor, Nexera, Inc.
• Judy Feder, PhD, Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University; Institute Fellow, Urban Institute
• Thomas Edes, MD, Director, Geriatrics & Extended Care, Office of Clinical Operations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Steven Dawson, President, PHI

Registration

There is no charge to attend Innovations in Care Coordination: Rethinking the Role of Home Care Workers. To register, see the complete agenda, and get more information, go to the forum’s online registration site.

– by Deane Beebe

Read Making the Most of Direct-Care Workers with a New Role on the Care Team (pdf) from the January-February 2012 issue of AgingToday.

In the article, PHI Policy Analysts Gail MacInnes and Meghan Shineman propose developing an “advanced aide” position that could play a critical role on care teams to improve outcomes and cost efficiencies.

The thriving home care industry brought in roughly $84 billion in revenue in 2009, the last year for which data is available, according to a new PHI fact sheet.

Faced with a proposed federal rule that would require home care companies to pay workers a minimum wage and overtime pay, many home care companies have argued that they could not possibly comply without passing along costs to consumers.

But the PHI fact sheet, Value the Care No. 5 (pdf), demonstrates that these claims are unfounded. The home care industry has flourished in recent years, growing steadily even during the recession.

Total revenue climbed at a yearly rate of about 9 percent between 2001 and 2009, while the number of home care providers increased by 20 percent each year from 2001 to 2010.

Low Wages Persist

Despite their tremendous success, many home care companies continue to pay their workers poverty-level wages.

The median hourly wage for home care workers was just $9.40 in 2010. Nearly half had to rely on public assistance, such as food stamps to supplement their low wages and Medicaid for health care coverage.

Currently, the companionship exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act allows home care companies to legally pay their workers less than minimum wage and deny them time-and-a-half overtime pay.

In December, however, President Obama announced a plan to revise the companionship exemption regulations so that the vast majority of home care workers would receive wage and hour protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The public is invited to comment on the proposed rule. The comment period ends February 27.

– by Matthew Ozga

The 60-day public comment period on the U.S. Department of Labor‘s (DOL) proposed rule to revise the “companionship exemption” has hit the midpoint.

Since the DOL launched the comment period in late December, critics of the proposed regulations have made numerous assertions regarding the negative impact of providing minimum wage and time-and-a-half pay for overtime for home care aides.

Concerned that these assertions exaggerate the costs associated with the rule change, PHI has released “Fixing the Companionship Exemption: Myths and Facts” (pdf), the fourth fact sheet in the Value the Care series on how narrowing the companionship exemption would affect home care workers, consumers, and employers.

Setting it Straight

The fact sheet sets straight an array of misconceptions, including how revising the companionship exemption would affect workers’ hours, costs for consumers and employers, and quality of care.

For example, the fact sheet tackles the myth that home come workers’ hours will be reduced because employers will limit work weeks to 40 hours rather than pay a worker time and a half.

In fact, less than 10 percent of aides regularly work more than 40 hours a week. Nearly half of home care workers work only part time, and 40 percent of these aides would like to work more hours. Though some aides who are working very long hours may be affected by the change, the good news is that more aides may be able to increase their hours.

FAQs

Additionally, to help address commonly asked questions about the companionship exemption, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) updated its Frequently Asked Questions (pdf) after the proposed regulations were released.

The new FAQ clarifies, for example, what group of workers would be affected by the proposed changes, the DOL’s proposed changes to the definition of companionship services, and how the proposed changes would improve conditions in the industry.

To submit an official comment to the DOL before the comment period ends on February 27, read sample comments, and see other resources, including the Value the Care series, visit the PHI Campaign for Fair Pay website.

– by Deane Beebe

Karen Kulp

Karen Kulp, president and CEO, Home Care Associates, and PHI board member, explains that paying home care workers minimum wage and overtime is fair and smart.

I recently had the honor of traveling to Washington, D.C., to stand with President Barack Obama, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and home care workers from across the country, as the President announced the proposed regulations to ensure that home care workers have minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The new regulations amend a law that dates back to 1974, which exempted employers from paying minimum wages and overtime for “casual babysitters” and “companions for the aged and infirm.”

Pennsylvania is one of 21 states (along with Washington, D.C.) that require employers to pay minimum wage, and among 16 of these states that also mandate paying overtime. This leaves 29 states — and nearly 1.4 million workers — without these basic labor protections.

I was asked to go the Washington in my role as president of Home Care Associates in Philadelphia, which has been in business since 1993. We have over 175 workers who provide services to people in their homes and other settings.

Kulp (L) with President Obama

We believe that that providing quality care requires creating a quality job. A quality job means providing appropriate training as well as decent wages and benefits. This not only makes sense because it is the right thing to do — we believe it is the smart thing to do.

Our experience is that in the long run, paying decent wages leads to greater investment by workers resulting in lower turnover rates and better quality of care.

More people are seeking home care for themselves or loved ones. Today there is greater competition to provide those services — from franchise businesses, providers who offer minimum wages but no benefits, and independent home care workers who are hired directly by consumers or their families for their services.

Home Care Associates has a workforce that is experienced and committed to doing this incredibly challenging and important work. It takes a special kind of person to do this work day in and out. Workers stay when their work is respected and adequately rewarded. At our company our aides average over four years on the job, which benefits the individuals for whom we care.

As a nation, it is time for us to recognize the valuable role that home care workers play in caring for our loved ones. Many of us would not be able to work to support our own families without the assistance of a home health aide.

The success of our company is proof that you can have a successful business and still pay workers decent wages and provide them with benefits. The need for quality workers will only increase in coming years. That is why we support these proposed regulations to assure that workers across the country receive fair pay for the critical services they provide.