In a February 27 letter to Hilda Solis, (PDF) the new U.S. Secretary of Labor, the Direct Care Alliance asked the Department of Labor to correct an injustice in a ruling affecting home care aides.
The DCA is advocating for a change to the ruling, which exempts home care aides from minimum wage and overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Our Respect for Homecare Workers campaign was launched last year to mobilize support for the change — and to advocate for the resources needed to support it, so workers can get their due without saddling employers with unsupportable costs or stripping consumers of crucial control over who and how they hire.
The February letter requests a meeting with Solis to discuss the FLSA fix and other ways of improving the labor market by supporting the fast-growing direct care workforce. “We believe that the direct care workforce employed in long-term care and health care can be crucial to the nation’s economic renewal, and to achieving President Obama’s goal of increasing the number of hard working Americans who enter the middle class,” it says.
In five minutes or less, you can help home care workers get the FLSA protections they deserve. Visit the DCA’s Legislative Action Center and send Secretary of Labor Solis a letter to let our new administration know you care about this issue.
Read the DCA board’s resolution about changing the FLSA
Read more about the FLSA and home care workers
Elise Nakhnikian
Communications Director
Direct Care Alliance
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.lyricsdigs.com
Sarah, thanks for posting a comment on our blog! I hope that you will continue to follow it and share more of your thoughts.
I just sent my letter to the NEW Secretary of the Dept. of Labor. After sending one to the former Secretary, I got a call from Washington, D.C. and wrote a blog about it: http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2009/02/if-i-can-do-it-so-can-you/
Letter-writing is one of the most important pieces to doing advocacy. I urge everyone to write a letter to Secretary Solis as soon as possible.
nice post , thank you for your efforts.