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PDFThe Department of Labor is in a public comment period until mid-March on a new rule extending wage protections to two groups of predominantly female workers. These workers fell under a “companionship” exclusion when the Fair Labor Standards Act was extended in 1974 to other domestic workers, including housekeepers, cooks and chauffeurs.
From USAToday:
Home health care companies are leading the fight against an Obama administration proposal to require them to pay their workers the minimum wage, despite data showing that the industry was one of the few nationally to maintain profits during the worst of the recession.
One of the industry’s leading companies, Home Instead Senior Care, spent at least $362,000 in 2011 fighting the proposal while it also touts an 18.8 yield ratio of investment to revenue, which was the highest in the group reviewed by the magazine Franchise Business Review.
A spokesman for Home Instead sent a news release from the Private Duty Homecare Association stating that the proposed rules would cut employees’ hours and, ultimately, hurt caregivers.
From Women’s E-news:
Nearly 2 million home care workers–almost all women–make up a growing $70 billion industry in the United States. The job provides a unique mix of care and companionship, from babysitting, to administering medication, helping clients bathe, clothe and move around, and cleaning.
The home care industry more than tripled between 2001 and 2010, growing from 24,919 establishments or agencies to 82,239, according to the New York-based Paraprofessionals Health Care Institute. In 1963, that official figure was 1,100.
The U.S. Labor Department has extended the time for commenting upon the proposed provisions that would essentially spell the end of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions for companions and live-in domestic-service workers. The new deadline is March 12, 2012.
Click here to make an electronic submission. The Department of Labor will read and count every comment they receive. Please take a moment to comment, otherwise the home health industry will dominate the rulemaking process.
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