Stop Excluding Home Care Workers from Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay!
Last week marked the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law that established minimum wage and overtime protections for American workers. In light of this historic moment, we’re gathering signatures for a petition urging President Obama to keep his promise to correct an injustice against nearly two million American home care workers, who are currently excluded from the FLSA.
We can’t wait another 75 years. We have to act now.
Since December 2011, home care workers, 520,000 of whom are Latino, have been waiting for change to come. Back then, President Obama pledged to end federal regulations excluding home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections. He stood with seniors, people with disabilities, and home care workers and declared that it was time to correct the injustice of excluding them from basic labor protections. Days later, the Department of Labor proposed regulations that would protect home care workers’ rights to minimum wage and overtime pay. Today, the revised labor regulations are sitting on the desks of administration officials in the Office of Management and Budget.
Just who are home care workers? They’re the people who provide one-on-one care to help elderly people and those with disabilities lead fuller lives. The proposed regulation takes an important step toward ensuring that the nation’s fastest-growing occupation enjoys the same rights as all other workers.
With your signatures, we can urge the administration to finalize these changes and grant home care workers the respect they deserve.
