LABOR-If proof is needed that good things happen to people who don’t just wait but act, look no further than Governor Jerry Brown’s agreement, this past week, to allow in-home caregivers to receive overtime pay. Last year his administration had claimed that such overtime, which the federal government had mandated for in-home caregivers, would pose a prohibitive financial burden for California. Then, in January, the governor unveiled a 2014-15 budget that explicitly capped caregivers’ hours at 40 per week for the program, which is administered by the state’s Department of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).
Not only would low-income seniors and Californians with disabilities who require in-home care have to hire additional workers to meet their needs, but the cap also struck deep at the livelihood of many caregivers by taking away from them a substantial number of work hours. A January Capital & Main investigative story, written by Gary Cohn, revealed that the low-wage caregivers often work far in excess of 40 hours per week in meeting the health and housekeeping needs of their clients – many of whom are family members.
The governor’s change of heart did not result from being visited by three Dickensian ghosts. Rather, his shift most likely came from intense lobbying by the United Long Term Care Workers union (ULTCW), which had been holding meetings with legislators and staging rallies in Sacramento.
“Because of the thousands of ULTCW members,” union president Laphonza Butler announced in a statement Tuesday, “we were able to make this historic win for IHSS caregivers. IHSS caregivers who work over 40 hours a week will receive time-and-a-half for an additional 26 hours.”
Butler added that in addition to overtime, caregivers will also now be paid for travel time and wait time when working with their clients.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s order to extend overtime pay to two million home care workers nationwide falls under the authority of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the resulting new regulations go into effect January 1, 2015. That will be a happy day for both California’s caregivers and the people who depend on them.
“It’s a big victory,” Deborah Doctor, a lobbyist for Disability Rights California, told the Los Angeles Times.
(This article was posted first at CapitalandMain.com.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 50
Pub: June 20, 2014