From the outbox of Meyer?s inbox:
As we look ahead to our futures, we should also be occasionally glancing behind us at the generation growing up. Those are the folks who will ultimately be taking care of the rest of us when the need arises. Home care is a big business and it?s just going to get bigger at the baby boomers continue to ?boom.? It might surprise you that home care workers have been denied the federal minimum wage, overtime pay and other protections that the vast majority of other American workers enjoy. Because of that, there is a huge turn around in this labor force and that?s not a good thing considering the services they provide. There is work afoot to change these conditions and get a bit more respect for the home care workers.
By David Ward, Direct Care Alliance, Christine Owens, National Employment Law Project
Last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that home care is the fastest-growing occupation in the United States. More jobs will be created in home care than in any other occupation through 2020.
But this positive news is tempered by the negative realities facing many workers in the industry. Home care work is too often ?expected but not respected,? in the words of worker Tracy Dudzinski, dismissed as neither skilled nor demanding enough to qualify as a real job. That may explain the surprising fact that home care workers are denied federal minimum wage, overtime, and other protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a law that was passed over 70 years ago.
Reform is long overdue, but it may be finally taking root. On December 15, Tracy stood proudly behind President Obama as he announced a proposed rule that would provide most home care workers with FLSA coverage. Unfortunately, an opposition movement led by highly profitable national home care corporations is trying to keep the rule from being issued.
Home care workers allow millions of elders and people with disabilities to stay in their homes, helping with activities of daily living like bathing, toileting, and eating. They monitor vital signs, clean catheters and tracheostomy tubes, and administer medications (in some states). They help prevent costly hospitalizations and even save lives, intervening before a decline turns deadly.
For this important work, they average less than $10 an hour. Many are not paid for travel time between clients or for providing care during an overnight shift. Few get paid sick time or vacation. Nearly 40 percent have no health insurance, and about half must supplement their incomes with food stamps, Medicaid, or other public benefits. These facts are key contributors to the industry?s high turnover rate, estimated to be between 44 and 65 percent a year.
We owe it to these workers, and to the people who rely on them, not to fall for the myths the big franchises are circulating in their effort to block the proposed rule.
Myth #1: Home care will become unaffordable, forcing people to do without care or to go into nursing homes.
According to a recent MetLife survey, agencies charge an average of $21 an hour for home health care services, which is more than twice the average wage for home care workers. As a result, gross profits of 30 to 40 percent are not unusual for large home care franchises, which should be able to absorb whatever relatively minor costs this rule may impose.
Besides, home care employers have managed to stay in business in the 21 states that mandate minimum wage and/or overtime pay, with no reported decline in the amount or quality of care provided.
Myth #2: Paying overtime will hinder care quality by forcing elders and people with disabilities to employ more workers.
Care recipients are better off with a small team of caregivers who can share the hours and fill in for one another as needed than with one worker who logs large amounts of overtime and can?t afford to take time off for illness or a family emergency. Turnover is the biggest threat to continuity and quality of care in home care, and low wages and poor benefits are the leading cause of the industry?s high turnover rates.
The best way to make sure we can find and keep qualified caregivers is to give home care workers the respect, wages, and benefits they deserve. Let?s start by granting them the same basic FLSA protections as most other American workers.
Read the rest from THE HILL.
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Source: http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2012/02/home-care-workers-look-for-respect/
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