Caregiver Wage, Overtime Protections Struck Down

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: By MICHELLE DIAMENT, Disability Scoop

January 16, 2015


A view of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that
the Labor Department went too far with regulations requiring that in-home care workers qualify for minimum wage
and overtime protections. (Tish Wells/TNS)

A federal judge has put a stop to a new rule requiring that in-home care workers assisting people with disabilities be paid minimum wage and overtime.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said this week that the U.S. Department of Labor overstepped its authority when it moved to mandate pay protections for caregivers.

Under a law dating to back to the 1970s, in-home care workers have been classified much like baby sitters and exempt from many wage protections. The Obama administration sought to change that, instituting regulations — which were set to take effect this month — mandating that the nation’s 2 million home care workers receive at least the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour and qualify for time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours per week.

Trade groups representing agencies that employ many in-home care workers challenged the new requirements and in two rulings — one in late December and a second this week — Leon put a halt to the Labor Department regulations.

Read more: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/01/16/caregiver-protections-struck/19970/

[Ash_F]

1. fuckers

GWB nominee obviously.

[rpannier]

5. Yes he is and a classmate of Clarence Thomas but...

like lots of other things it's kind of a mixed bag

October 23, 2008 Leon commented on the ambiguity of the term "enemy combatant" and criticized Congress and the Supreme Court

On November 20, Judge Leon ordered five detainees released from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base due to insufficient evidence.

On January 2, 2013, Judge Leon ruled that a memo linking the Palestinian Authority to a suicide bombing that killed two American teenagers and one Israeli teen be returned to the PA or destroyed.

On December 16, 2013, Judge Leon ruled that the NSA's bulk collection of Americans' telephony records likely violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, though he stayed enforcement of his injunction pending appeal to the D.C. Circuit.

From his decision on NSA collection
I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen [...] the almost-Orwellian technology
No court has ever recognized a special need sufficient to justify continuous, daily searches of virtually every American citizen without any particularized suspicion. The Government urges me to be the first non-FISC judge to sanction such a dragnet.
I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison would be aghast.

[Yo_Mama]

7. The problem is labor law, not the judge. n/t

[rpannier]

11. agreed

but some people seem to be blaming him

[Yo_Mama]

26. If a judge could redefine existing law to make the reg legal,

then a judge could redefine existing law to make it legal to IGNORE worker rights granted by law. This we don't want.

[elleng]

23. Thanks.

Hoped to see some rational explanation here.

[jtuck004]

2. Organize, and learn to own. n/t

[blackspade]

3. Really? WTF?

Follow the money.....

[branford]

19. Read the law at issue, before you blame the judge dark money interests. nt

The president sought to effectively change an over 40 year old law by executive action. He cannot do that without Congress.

[ReRe]

4. Yeah, the old fart had to put...

... a stop to that. If you do this, then before we know it,
housewives will be hollering for their minimum wage.

[Divernan]

6. Growing demand for inhome caregivers means many unqualified are flooding the field.

Was just discussing this last weekend w/people - sharing our experiences with people hired to care for our elderly family members. Social workers/agencies have a big push for "aging in place" - keeping frail elderly in their own homes or homes of their working family members, i.e, someone is needed to provide care for the 10 hours while the family member is at their regular job - so a lot of otherwise unemployable people are getting hired by desperate family members. Tales abound of meds being misadministered or stolen; failure to feed according to dietary restrictions (no, pizza is not a pureed food); caregivers propping themselves and/or their charges in front of a tv for the whole shift; not showing up or showing up late; stealing clothing; having friends over; sleeping on the job because they have another job as well.

These jobs are currently the bottom of the barrel - someone explain to this financially advantaged judge that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR - if you want motivated, competent caregivers for the frailest members of our society, you have to screen them, train them, and provide them with a living wage and benefits, along with licensing and regulating them.

[Yo_Mama]

8. I agree, and I don't know anyone who hasn't paid at least $10 an hour.

I think labor law should be changed, but minimum isn't adequate anyway.

[Divernan]

10. And how much of that $10 goes to agency; how much to actual worker?

That's why I referred to the need to pay them a LIVING wage and benefits. I'm thinking $15.00 an hour and benefits like sick days, vacation, and health insurance.

[jamzrockz]

13. Agencies usually charge

$18-30 to the clients and then pays the caretaker between $10-12 per hr for CNA work, its a bit lower for sitters. The franchise takes a cut, the agency takes a cut and uncle same takes his cut too.

[Yo_Mama]

14. Most people who need the service can't afford that much.

And most people I know don't go through an agency, because the agency costs too much.

[FrodosPet]

9. I was a full-time caregiver for my father for 4 years

Myself, I will throw the off switch before putting someone else through what I went through.

My pay was a place to sleep and the cheapest food available. I did get food stamps for 3 months one time, so that helped me eat a little better for a short while. But my diet was mostly Ramen Noodles, spaghetti with hot sauce, and bargain brand hot dogs.

He obviously could not afford to pay me. So caregivers should not only be paid full wages, they should be paid by Medicare.

[Hestia]

24. Why did y'all not submit the paperwork to Medicare for caregiver duties? The only family member

who cannot get paid as a caregiver is the spouse. Isn't it something like $1500 per month for caregiving? Was there not a caseworker to help with the paperwork? Somehow it sounds like your father fell through the cracks.

[FrodosPet]

25. No one ever told me about that

Between my grandmother with Alzheimer's Disease and my dad's stroke paralysis, my experience with calling for help was everyone always had another phone number and an excuse about why they couldn't do anything.

[Hestia]

29. So sorry to just answer

In every state, and I think every 2 years, there are Medicaid rules that have to be published if someone doesn't have the internet. Wealth of information. Everyone who has a parent aging in place, or even nursing home, should read the rules.

There also is an Ombudsman for Medicaid and Medicare for each state/county. Anyone can become one after training. An ombudsman is for the patient, to give them info that they need to navigate the system, helps with paperwork, etc.

Who knows, if you become one, it could lead to employment...? Always worth a chance. I know an ombudsman who became director of the Area Agency on Aging in one area of the state because she made it her mission to learn all she could to make herself invaluable to the patients in her area. She begged me to become one to help relieve her of her duties, but jeez, I already had a full time job at the time and didn't do it. May do it now...

I wish the gov't would put out PSA's for info like what you need. Remember all those that ran up to Bush II's term? Valid information that each person needs in this country.

Though, I do think that the pugs have eliminated monies so that our federal gov't can't give us info that we need.

[jamzrockz]

12. This is not actually as bad as it sounds

I have worked as an in home caretaker during college and some of the jobs are actually worth less than minimum wage. Some times its just a sitting position where you do absolutely nothing but just keep an eye on someone. You can bring your school books, laptop, sleeping bag, watch TV(if they have cable) and sometimes food is provided.

Also, some of the families you are taking care off are paying for this service out of pocket. Believe me, the ones that pay minimum wage or close to minimum wage are the ones that demand so little effort that it doesn't even feel like work. And even those ones still paid above minimum wage in Nebraska.

The ones that do require some certificate like a CNA doesn't pay anything close to minimum wage, in fact nobody will look your way(unless out of pity) if that is what you are offering.

So please do understand that in-home care is a broad sector, don't just imagine they are all cleaning poop, waking up, dressing and feeding clients. There have been times when I came home feeling like I should drop some money on the table because I felt like I did nothing all weekend.

[uppityperson]

17. your time is worthless? You may not be actively busy a lot of the time but when you are needed,

it is urgent you are there. Because security guards do nothing most of the time, are not family needed, should they be paid less than minimum wage also?

[malokvale77]

20. I am a home healthcare giver...

and I wish I had time to sit on my butt and watch TV or read a book.

My duties are: bathing, dressing, grooming, cooking, laundry, shopping, cleaning, arranging transportation to doctors appointments and then escorting to said appointments (I´m not allowed to drive client, only escort, which makes things very difficult) and keep track of meds and oxygen supply.

I just passed my 5 yr anniversary and make $7.86 an hour. I do not get paid for anything past 30 hrs, even though I often work many hours beyond that. I pay for my own supplies and gas. I do not get vacation (not even a weekend off), sick pay or health insurance. My schedule changes daily according to my clients needs. I have to be aware of power failures after hours, in case I need to rush and setup portable oxygen.

My client is a smoker and is on oxygen, so my life is in danger every time I walk through that door.

No, I am not a glorified babysitter. And, yes, I clean poop.

[Ash_F]

22. Do you live with the client and, if so, do you pay rent? /nt

[malokvale77]

30. I have my own home to support. (nt)

[jamzrockz]

27. I am speechless

I want to ask questions like are you a CNA? do you work for an agency? or did you arrange for this contract privately? who is paying you? client or 3rd party payer? etc etc because a part of me thinks you are making it all up. I mean, I made about the same amount on my first job in the early 2000s working for burger king. I don't know where you live but you should be making way more than $7.86 per hour for that kind of caring position.

I have done the glorified babysitting care position where all I did was keep an eye on someone sleeping in a nursing home and not even then did I make less than $8.50. And I mean glorified baby sitting in the sense that all I was required to do is to talk to him when he woke up and call the nurses when he wanted help. The truth is that with that particular client, I did not do anything on most days because he would sleep during my whole shift (7p -7am). I have also gone to places where I was required to walk a client, give baths, feed, assist with physical therapy, give medication (unofficially), drive client to appointments, perform light house work, cook etc etc and I was compensated accordingly. I never heard of anyone making that low of a pay doing what you did.

And this is the main point I was trying to make. Care giver, care tech etc etc doesn't mean one thing. It's a broad range of tasks going all the way from doing almost nothing to doing hardcore ADL tasks. I have had it all and I can tell you that not all of them deserve even minimum wage pay (talking specifically to live-in positions).

[malokvale77]

32. I´ll try to answer your questions.

I am not a CNA. I get my paycheck through a faith based agency. I took this job by way of a personal request from an old friend in need. I was self employed and cut back on my own business to help out for what was suppose to be a few short months.

I have short changed my own retirement to care for a human being that nobody else gave a thought to.

Furthermore, I provide a home for two other people that society turns a blind eye to.

Because people like you think this is all made up, those in need will always be ignored.

What a sad world we have become.

[LanternWaste]

33. And denying even minimal wages to caregivers certainly illustrates that accurately.

"What a sad world we have become..."

And denying even minimal wages to caregivers, then rationalizing it through subjective and anecdotal evidence certainly illustrates that statement accurately.

[malokvale77]

34. Thank you for getting it.

Too few do. Your reply made me cry.

Now I am off to work.

[Omaha Steve]

15. Maybe the judge should be "Struck Down"

Or paid less than the minimum etc...

K&R!

[Stryst]

16. I currently make $4.78/hour to care for

Two senior citizens and their 40 year old son with Downs Syndrome. I make less than $20 a month difference between my "paycheck" and when I was on SSID. But if I don't work myself to death, then my partner doesn't qualify for the subsidies to stay on insurance. And I still get people bitching behind me in line if I use the food stamps I need to make ends meet to buy a coke. The "good people" of Florida not only begrudge me a minimum wage, they won't even be happy until I don't have a single thing they consider a luxury.

This would have changed my life, but fuck me... guess I should have died in Iraq like they wanted.

[Fred Sanders]

18. The problem is the law that permits regulations but the judge said this was beyond the law...he is

not being "cruel".

The law needs to be changed....by a GOP Congress elected by a 38% voter turnout.

[blkmusclmachine]

21. SSDD

[nilesobek]

28. My wife of 30 years did this job for 15 years

and would come home crying after making a relationship in caregiving and that person dying. Her boss was a greedy megalomaniac who underpaid my wife. Not even a living wage. All the while she lived upriver in her mansion buying her sons German cars. My wife was the best employee she ever had, most of the staff were painkiller addicts who stole medication from the elderly.

This law was cloaked in language that makes it appear to be beneficial, to allow family members to work in the business but really will only result in worse care for the people needing it and excessive hardships for real employees who need real living wages.

[hollowdweller]

31. How can we ever get wages up??

If conservative courts keep working to keep peoples wages down??

One thing you have to say, the GOP has been masterful at making sure that their attacks on the working people cannot be reversed.