New Labor Ruling for U.S. Home Care Workers

The home care industry more than tripled between 2001 and 2010, growing from 24,919 establishments or agencies to 82,239, according to the New York-based Paraprofessionals Health Care Institute. In 1963, that official figure was 1,100.

"Congress wasn't thinking then about the work force as it is today," Robin Shaffert, a policy consultant for Caring Across Generations, a workers' advocacy coalition based in New York and Washington, said in a phone interview. "And so what has happened is there is this broad group of people who are not doing this casually, who are supporting themselves and their families, and they are not covered by minimum wage and overtime provisions."

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Caring Across Generation has five major goals, one for each finger of a worker's caring hand.

Preparing good jobs for a projected 50 percent increase of personal care aides between 2008 to 2018 (from 921,700 to 1,328,600);

• Improving the quality of current jobs;
• Providing training;
• Providing a path to citizenship for undocumented home care workers;
• Supporting individuals and families.

Conditions Lag Demand

Caring Across Generations says home care workers' access to job protections and training lags the boom in demand for their services.

Sylvia Liang, of Seattle, agrees.

Liang is employed by her 23-year-old son, living with autism. She said she has learned almost everything she knows about caring for him by simply raising him. She works out of their house and last year became involved with Caring Across Generations.

When she talks with other home care workers they recognize a common need for training, Liang said. "We know we don't have as much training as we would like. I am not a medical professional. I learn from trial and error."

In 2009, the National Domestic Worker Alliance pushed through a groundbreaking domestic workers' bill of rights that extended basic protections to nannies and housekeepers.

But the bill--which workers have successfully used to recoup wages--neglected home care workers, in keeping with the same definition of a domestic worker as outlined by the Fair Labor Standards Act, now subject to revision.