We're more than half way done with 2010. So many changes are happening in the world, some good - many not so fantastic. There are however some issues that have remained unchanged - and need to change ASAP.
For instance, home care workers--the folks who provide essential care and services to more than 13 million seniors and people with disabilities every day--are legally excluded from federal minimum wage and overtime protections.
We live in a country where hard work is supposed to be rewarded, but the outdated 
regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act haven't kept pace with the realities of America's healthcare system. Home care workers are still viewed as "companions" under the Department of Labor's regulations, which wrongfully equates the focused and skilled care home care workers provide with babysitting.
If your elderly or disabled family member, who chooses to live at home, needed assistance with daily care, would you try to get the same babysitter you call on for date nights with your spouse? Of course you wouldn't.
The majority of home care workers earn poverty wages. There are no benefits. No healthcare coverage. The lack of federal labor protections only exacerbates these working conditions. As a result, home care workers struggle to care for their own families. This needs to change, and can.
How?
First, know that the U.S. Department of Labor has the authority to make this long overdue regulatory change and do the right thing for home care workers and the individuals and families who depend on their services. We need to do a few things to bring this change about. First, let people know that this issue even exists, second, take some very basic actions on Facebook and Twitter.
On Facebook, become a fan of the Department of Labor's Facebook page and post this message:
Secretary Solis, home care workers deserve minimum wage and overtime protection. It's time to change the companionship exemption regulations: http://bit.ly/a5pF1e
On Twitter, copy, paste, and tweet this message:
@HildaSolisDOL, it's time to end the exclusion of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime exemption: http://bit.ly/a5pF1e
On Facebook, you should also become a fan of this campaign's page:
Homecare Workers Deserve Minimum Wage Protection.
After you become a fan, please suggest our page to all your friends.
Here's some legal background:
- 1938 - The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is enacted to ensure a minimum standard of living for workers through the provision of a minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections -- but domestic workers are excluded.
- 1974 - The FLSA is amended to include domestic employees such as housekeepers, full-time nannies, chauffeurs, and cleaners. However, persons employed as "companions to the elderly or infirm" remain excluded from the law.
- 1975 - The Department of Labor (DOL) interprets the "companionship exemption" as including all direct-care workers in the home, even those employed by third parties such as home care agencies.
- 2001 - The Clinton DOL finds that "significant changes in the home care industry" have occurred and issues a "notice of proposed rulemaking" that would have made important changes to the exemption. The revision process is terminated, however, by the incoming Bush Administration.
- 2007 - The US Supreme Court, in a case brought by New York home care attendant Evelyn Coke, upholds the DOL's authority to define exceptions to FLSA.
- Today: We are calling on DOL Secretary Hilda Solis to end the companionship exemption.
Together we can create the same labor protections for home care workers that virtually ever other worker in the economy enjoys.
