Blog: A Win for Home Care Workers

Statement

Kimberly Thomas is a mother and grandmother. As a young child, she wanted to be a nurse. But life had other plans for her, and it wasn't until she began to care for her own ailing mother that the calling she felt as a child was reawakened.

Kimberly became a certified nursing assistant and, for the better part of the last decade, has worked as a home care worker in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is fiercely devoted to those she serves − mostly Alzheimer's patients − bathing them, preparing meals, driving them to appointments and helping them remain in their own homes. Her connection with them, she says, is the reason she loves her job.

Until recently, Kimberly would work up to 120 hours in a week without a dime of overtime pay, at times working as many as 72 hours straight. Her breaks came in between clients' appointments. Sometimes she'd take quick naps in her car.

It isn't right that Kimberly had to work so long and hard only to earn what amounted to poverty wages for all the hours she put in. It was not fair to her, and it was not best for her clients, as she moved from one shift to another with very little rest. And it wasn't right that she had to spend so much time away from her own family and on her feet.

That's why two and a half years ago the Labor Department finalized a rule requiring that most home care workers be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked as well as overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The home care final rule is vital to the nearly 2 million workers who provide compassionate and competent care to our loved ones who wish to remain in their homes and communities.

Until the rule, this growing and increasingly important group of workers − overwhelmingly women, and mostly women of color − was left out of the American promise of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. It undermines our nation's basic bargain when an estimated 40 percent of home care workers rely on public assistance to make ends meet. These are dedicated, hardworking employees, and they deserve to be paid as such.

Today, I am glad to say the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the rule − a decision that concludes a nearly two-year legal battle, ensuring the rule remains in place to help realize President Obama's vision of an economy that works for everyone.

For consumers of home care services, the rule will help stabilize and professionalize the home care workforce. It will ensure even better care for people with disabilities and seniors. And for Kimberly and so many just like her, the home care final rule means a paycheck that reflects hard work. For everything they do for our families, home care workers deserve a fair shot at being able to take care of their own.

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