Support for Revising the Companionship Exemption Grows

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