Supreme Court Stabs Seniors, Women & Our Economy in the Back

It’s hard to believe that 9 people, some of whom are getting up in years themselves, would make a judgment that could so harshly affect the sick, elderly and disabled, as well as their caregivers. Yet that’s exactly what happened on June 11th when the Supreme Court ruled that Home Health Care (HHC) aides, who provide “companionship services”, should be lumped in with baby-sitters as “casual workers”. No matter how many long, hard hours a day they work, this ruling exempts HHC workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act and leaves 2.1 million workers ineligible for
minimum wage or overtime pay or benefits.

You might be wondering how this Supreme Court decision adversely affects senior citizens, women and our economy. Here are the cold, hard facts.

Women: Living expenses are increasing. It’s getting harder to make ends meet. 80% of the 2.1 million home health care workers are women and minorities. If home health care workers cannot make a living wage, they will need to find different jobs or their families will suffer. This is especially true if you are a single mother.

U.S. Economy: If we don’t wake up and pay caregivers what they are worth, we will eventually lose much of the work-force to foreigners. Not surprisingly, it’s already happening. A large percentage of our country’s caregivers have come from India and Mexico. They get “fast-tracked” visas, so that Americans have enough caregivers to provide for our needs. This is not technically out-sourcing, because the foreign caregivers are employed within the U.S., but it still affects our economy.

People who come from other countries are likely to send much of their pay-check back to
their families. Unfortunately, the greenback’s worth is fading fast.
We need our dollars to stay in our country to support our economy, not
sent away to support other countries’ economies. Caregiving jobs should be included in the Fair Labor Standards Act and filled by Americans, not folks from Mexico and India.

Seniors: If a foreign caregiver does not speak proper English or if has an accent that is difficult to decipher, then seniors, the infirm and the disabled can be adversely affected. Quick, precise and understandable communication is an important part of caregiving. Accidents are more likely to occur without proper and timely communication. There is even more need for accuracy when administering medication, as many caregivers are required to do.

It seems that the Supreme Court cares little for those needing care or our economy, let alone the home health care workers. Instead, it looks as if they support the fat cats, as the unanimous June 11th Supreme Court decision was obviously in favor of employers and the corporate run, big biz, home health care industry.

HHC agencies testified that any changes in the status-quo would cost hundreds of millions of dollars per year, possibly resulting in service cuts. Oh really? More likely, paying overtime to struggling single mothers will cut into the “care” industry’s profits. Why not cut the CEO’s pay to make up the difference, if they’re so concerned about service cuts?

Another testimony given to the Court was from Tammy D. McCutchen, who was the Wage and Hour Administrator at the start of the Bush administration. She said, “We were concerned about burden on Medicare providers and recipients
and on the health care system generally, if overtime would have been
required.”

While Medicare might be spared a few dollars, it’s the home health care industry that really makes out. They know they can make big profits off the backs of their workers. Amazingly, according to a 2006 Genworth survey, in some parts of the country HHC agencies charge $292 per hour, while a worker may be paid as little as $6 per hour.

Thanks to the nine justices, home health care agencies can continue to pay appallingly low wages while presenting insurance companies and private payers with huge bills. Let’s keep in mind, Medicare and care recipients wouldn’t be affected if the HHC agencies simply paid their workers overtime, but didn’t charge more for their services. The agencies wouldn’t make such enormous profits, but the system would be fair to all.

Now, there’s no disputing that home health care workers are among the lowest paid of all service industry employees. But are you aware that these hard working people have no protection from discrimination, nor do they enjoy employment
benefits?

Yet home health care workers are expected to be patient, kind, discreet, honest, discerning, healthy, physically strong, and on call. They are the ones who risk life-long injury by lifting and transferring clients who can’t move; they change the stinky adult diapers filled with mounds of poo; they suffer verbal and physical abuse from ill-tempered clients; they are the ones who go without breaks or lunch if they have to work around their clients needs or rush from one client’s house to the next. These people help those who cannot help themselves. Who else will feed them, bathe them, dress them, toilet them, massage them, groom them and make sure they are stable, health-wise?

Home care workers provide all these necessary services, while getting no benefits, no travel pay and no overtime. No wonder American caregivers are leaving their jobs in droves. At the very least, all caregivers should be well respected and well paid. Better yet, they should be honored, stabbed in the back by wealthy judges who have lifetime job security!

Knowing this, you’d think the
Supreme Court would have made the opposite decision than the one they handed down June 11th. But then again, maybe not.

Seems as if since January 2001, every department and branch of our government has gone frighteningly awry. The Justice Dept. follows order
from the White House, instead of following the letter of the law; the
Surgeon General heeds warnings from the Bush Administration, instead of warning us about health dangers; the Environmental Protection Agency is told to loosen its requirements, at the expense of our water, land and air; our Constitution has been gutted, at the expense of our precious civil rights and the agencies that are supposed to be protecting Americans are now spying on us. So, in light of all that, why not keep a decent living from the people caring for our loved ones?

What do we have to
lose…..? The best care when we need it most?

What can we do to change this travesty of a ruling? Well, we can’t fire Supreme Court justices, although we should be able to if they keep making bogus rulings.

We can write or call the Department of Labor and demand that they reassess their interpretation of “companion services”. (Everyone in the Federal Government is supposed to work for us, right?) Tell them that home health care workers, aides and caregivers should not be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Then get on the horn or write Congress.

Sen. Kennedy (D-Mass.), and chairman of the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, claims that he “intends to work with my Senate colleagues on a fair solution that treats these hardworking
caregivers with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

Shall we hold our breath?

Not on your life! We need to speak up loudly and insistently, if we want things changed. It’s up to us to keep squeaking until the wheel gets greased.

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