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Why we oppose California AB889

8/29/2012

3 Comments

 
When you first glance at AB889  it seems like something you would want to support.  Positioned as a 'domestic workers bill of rights', it promises to provide basic workplace rights to in-home workers.  But you cannot protect workers who are hired directly by individuals, frequently underpaid, and often paid under the table.  AB889 will take the in home care industry underground, rendering domestic workers invisible, thereby more vulnerable to abuse.

If you look a little deeper, you see that AB889 makes two classes of already vulnerable citizens--seniors and domestic workers--more vulnerable to physical, financial, and emotional abuse.  The most recent changes to the legislation exempts everyone except the home care agencies.  Yet it is the home care agencies that keep seniors and caregivers the safest and most secure.  In fact, we hire caregivers out of abusive or potentially abusive situations.

AB889 is Bad for Seniors
Dedicated home care agencies protect seniors by pre-screening candidates, conducting background checks and medical screening, and taking on the employer liability.  And with day-to-day management, seniors are given better care, and have more flexibility in making sure that the caregiver that they are working with is the best person to care for them.

AB889 would force us to provide multiple caregivers per live-in client, making staying at home too cost prohibitive.  Far fewer seniors will be able to remain in their own home as they require care.  Also, imagine an older person living with Alzheimers having to have multiple shift changes every day.  That would make an already confusing situation more overwhelming.  

AB889 is Bad for Domestic Workers
Home care agencies pay a fair, dependable wage, cover workers compensation, provide training, and create a safe working environment for domestic workers.  If a caregiver is not being treated well, it is the home care agency that takes care of them.  If this bill passes, the home care industry will go underground, and domestic workers will provide care directly with no protection, no oversight, no one checking in to see how they are fairing.  Instead of preventing abuse, this creates a situation that is ripe for abuse.  

Please join us in opposing AB889.  Let your State Senators know that you want to keep seniors and domestic workers safe, secure, and well cared for.
3 Comments
Kathy Janz link
8/29/2012 04:17:30 am

AB889 is focused on the wrong industry, the Home Care Agencies that employ their workers, and already must abide by numerous wage and hour regulations. All too frequently, we have aides come into our office who have worked in small board and care homes or private clients for pittance wages after coming to the US as indentured workers reminicent of the 1800s. AB889 should focus on those workers who are dragged up in buses from the day worker centers who are in a very disadvantaged situation not on the maintstreamed legal work force whose employers all comply with regs, fees, payroll contributions, workers compensation costs. Legislators need to better research the problems before attaching the wrong constituents

Reply
Craig Falk
8/29/2012 04:54:06 am

I agree with the original post and the comment by Kathy Janz. OT for domestic workers sounds like a good cause until you understand the reason for the existing OT exemption; there is a lot of down time during long shifts. The nature of the work is what created the exemption in the first place. That has not changed. I am certain that if AB889 passes, more caregivers and seniors will be driven to the underground economy where there is no protection for either party and no payroll taxes are collected. How can that be good for anyone?

Reply
Melissa - Seniorcare-homes.com link
1/22/2016 06:27:30 am

I agree that this is something bad for senior, especially for those having Alzheimer’s disease because of they will meet multiple caregivers and this constant changing will not be good for their condition.

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    Scott Stanley is the Owner of Caring Hands Caregivers, a Bay Area caregiver agency focused on preserving dignity through quality in-home care. 

    You can reach Scott by email to scott@chcgivers.com.

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