Evelyn Coke
The DCA’s battle for justice for home care workers got a powerful assist on January 29 when a New York Times editorial called on President Obama to right the wrong that leaves home care workers without minimum wage and overtime protections under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. If he does not do so, the editorial urges the Congress to pass a bill named for Evelyn Coke, the home care aide whose challenge to that injustice made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Lilly and Evelyn” points out that the first bill President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which overturned a Supreme Court decision denying a woman restitution for having been paid her less than her male colleagues for years. “It is past time for Mr. Obama to see that similar justice is done for Evelyn Coke,” the editorial states.
While the Supreme Court ruled that home care aides were not eligible for overtime pay because they served as “companions,” they provide far more than mere companionship, the editorial notes. What’s more, their profession is one of the fastest-growing in the nation. “Currently numbering around two million, they are among the lowest-paid and most-exploited in the work force.”
A resolution passed by the DCA board of directors in 2007 states that it is “fundamentally unacceptable for home care and personal assistance workers not to have the basic protections awarded to all hourly workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” The Supreme Court decision, the resolution adds, “highlights the overall irrationality of the current long-term care system in which workers are not paid adequately for the services they provide and consumers are not receiving the services they need because there is not sufficient money in the system for either.”
Related information
Blog posts about Evelyn Coke and the need for the FLSA fix
Elise Nakhnikian
Communications Director
Direct Care Alliance
