Vol. 71/No. 17      April 30, 2007

The case stems from a suit filed by Evelyn Coke, a home-care worker for 20 years, who sued her former employer—Long Island Care at Home—for overtime pay.

Home aides provide personal assistance to people, mostly those who are elderly or have mental or physical disabilities. Such care often involves helping people with bathing, dressing, preparing food, and housekeeping.

Many Long Island Care at Home employees put in 60 to 70 hours a week. When Coke last worked there, she was making $7 an hour and had no health insurance.

Her situation is typical among home-care workers nationally. In 2004, their median pay was $8.12 an hour. Ten percent of these workers earned less than $6 an hour. From 1997 to 1999, almost half of all home aides had no health coverage from either their employer or Medicaid.

New York City has filed a legal brief against Coke’s case, arguing that including home-care workers in FLSA protections would cost City Hall $250 million. There are currently 60,000 home aides working in the city.

FLSA requires employers to pay workers minimum wage and overtime, and prohibits child labor. It includes a series of exemptions to those protections. Coke’s suit challenges the one for those “employed in domestic service” who “provide companionship services for individuals who (because of age or infirmity) are unable to care for themselves.” The Department of Labor has also issued regulations exempting home-care workers.

Craig Becker, a lawyer for the Service Employees International Union, which includes 400,000 home aides, is representing Coke. Becker says the federal regulations are contradictory and violate the intent of FLSA.
 
 
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