Home Care Workers and Allies Tell Congress to Do the Right Thing
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Determined to win home care workers the respect and basic labor protections they deserve, teams of direct care workers, employers, and allies from across the nation will converge on Capitol Hill on Friday, September 21, for a National Day of Action, sponsored by the Direct Care Alliance, in partnership with Bend the Arc and the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The teams will visit their members of Congress to deliver an urgent message: We must guarantee home care workers the right to minimum wage and overtime pay. Meanwhile, more advocates will deliver the same message to members of Congress in their home states.
Due to skyrocketing demand driven primarily by aging baby boomers, home care is the fastest-growing job category in the U.S. Yet these crucial workers, who enable elders and people with disabilities to remain as healthy and independent as possible in their own homes, often struggle to support themselves and their families. With wages averaging less than $10 an hour, about half of all home care workers must rely on food stamps or some other form of public assistance.
Those who log more than 40 hours a week aren't even guaranteed overtime pay. That's because home care workers are excluded from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), classified as mere "companions" to the people they assist.
Last December, President Obama announced a proposed rule to put an end to this shameful oversight. The rule won overwhelming support from the American people during the public comment period. More than 20,000 favorable comments—over 80 percent of the total submitted—were in favor of the rule. Yet DOL has not yet enacted it.
National Day of Action participants will urge their elected representatives to support speedy passage of the rule extending FLSA protections to home care workers. They will also ask them to support a law introduced into both houses of Congress that would accomplish the same thing.
The Direct Care Alliance is the national advocacy voice of direct care workers in long-term care. We empower workers to speak out for better wages, benefits and training, so more people can commit to direct care as a career. We also convene powerful allies nationwide to build consensus for change.
Contact: Jessica Brill Ortiz
(202) 236-4593 | [email protected]
SOURCE Direct Care Alliance
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