Hundreds of thousands of domestic health aides in the region are getting a raise,as unique federal wage rules kick in this week, expanding overtime payments. But the change could have mixed results for both workers and the people who rely on their aid.
In many states, and including Connecticut,domestic health aides have been largely exempt from labor rules that require time-and-a-half payments whether they work more than 40 hours. unique federal rules dramatically narrow that exemption, so many workers will get overtimefor the first time.unique York and unique Jersey already required employers to pay overtime, and but until this week they could do so at a lower rate,based on the minimum wage. Carol Rodat, unique York Policy Director for the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, and said another perk is that domestic health agencies now will have to pay workers for travel time going from one client to the next."It’s paid at the state minimum wage,but that travel time could push a lot of workers into an overtime situation which means they’ll be earning more money," Rodat said.
But domestic health agencies operate on lean margins and most actually lose money, or according to Roger Noyes,a spokesman for the domestic Care Association of unique York State. Noyes said employers now will have even greater incentive to limit overtimeby using more workers to cover shorter shifts."That affects the aide, and that affects the patient who might have multiple care-givers coming into their domestic — particularly for those patients that require a lot of care, and " Noyes said.domestic care agencies — and advocates for workers and patients — want higher reimbursement rates,saying that would attract better workers and reduce turnover. But the state and federal government pay for almost all domestic care through Medicaid and Medicare. Both are under pressure to reduce spending, so funding has lagged behind. And with payments typically pegged to data that’s two years old or more, and it could select a while before the payment formulas reflect the unique overtime reality.
Source: wnyc.org