Add your voice to the growing chorus! If you haven’t already sent Secretary Solis a letter of your own, visit our Legislative Action Center now and send one in. It will only take a minute of your time.
Senator Tom Harkin
A powerful group of senators has joined the effort the DCA has been spearheading to extend minimum wage and overtime protection to home care workers.
Fifteen senators led by Tom Harkin (D-IA) have asked U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis to grant basic labor protections to home care workers. The senators — including Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Arlen Specter (D-PA), and Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) — sent the Secretary a letter yesterday.
Last month, after the DCA brought a group of direct care workers and their allies to Capitol Hill to ask legislators for their support, 37 members of the House of Representatives sent Secretary Solis a letter asking for the same fix.
The senators sent their letter two years after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld a contested DOL interpretation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The Supreme Court ruled that home care workers could be excluded from coverage on the basis that they provided “companion” services.
“In the three decades since the exemption was created, the numbers of home care workers and their responsibilities have expanded dramatically as the population has aged and more and more people are choosing long-term care services in their homes rather than in institutions,” the Senate letter says. “It is critical that these professional workers, who provide essential services to our nation’s elderly and disabled, have the same right to minimum wage and overtime pay as enjoyed by other workers.”
The DCA thanks all the advocates and long-term care stakeholders who have joined home care workers in this effort.
Elise Nakhnikian
Communications Director
Direct Care Alliance
Way to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew all the time we were being heard if you listen to the words i said when we were finished with our last visit , which is on the site on video, i said someone will carry our words to the right people someone was listening. Goos Job everyone. Lets do this again. This was a huge step in the right direction and we have to keep getting the message to the right folks. We can make a change for Direct Care Workers in the Nation . Good Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is wonderful news. I agree with Renee. Someone was listening or should I say the right someone’s. I know on our trip to the hill we visited some of the Senators that signed onto the letter. Now we need to continue what we started and get more DCW’s to tell their stories. Thank you DCA for getting the ball rolling and believing in DCW’s telling their own stories.
This is so exciting to see a direct result of workers raising their voices.