The widespread occurrence of low pay and lack of overtime wages received by workers in industries at the heart of our economy--such as janitorial, trucking, hospitality and home care--has been going on for way too long. What's more, the federal agency charged with protecting these workers has been doing a sorely inadequate job, even being described by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as "ineffective."
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the Just Pay Working Group--which SEIU is a member of--released a new report this week based on members' recommended reform proposals, to help the DOL do a better job of enforcing and strengthen wage laws for workers.
One such proposal in the report which our union feels particularly strong about: ending the exemption of home health care workers from basic minimum wage and overtime protections. Continuing to deny home care workers a living wage and overtime compensation by upholding the "companionship exemption" (more on that here) essentially puts the teenager who occasionally watches your kids on the same level with a worker trained to provide full-time and long-term care for seniors and disabled persons.
Read and download the report from NELP and Just Pay Working Group here:
NELP Just Pay Report2010--Improving Wage Hour Enforcement at DOL
