Statement for the Record by the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) For the Hearing on Ensuring Regulations Protect Access to Affordable and Quality Companion Care Before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Education and the Workforce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives.
(2012, March 20th). Statement for the Record by the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) For the Hearing on Ensuring Regulations Protect Access to Affordable and Quality Companion Care Before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Education and the Workforce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives. Bronx, NY.: Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute.
Abstract
The Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, says that the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposal to extend 2.5 million home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will strengthen the infrastructure for home and community-based services, assuring access to affordable, quality care.
The DOL proposal to revise the "companionship exemption" under FLSA finally recognizes the formalization of the home care industry — now a thriving $84 billion industry — and the professionalization of the workforce, since home care workers were first excluded from the federal labor law in 1974, says PHI in a statement submitted to the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee.
The statement was released today at a committee hearing on "Ensuring Regulations Protect Access to Affordable, Quality Companion Care" (abstract from: http://phinational.org/archives/press-release-extending-home-care-workers-federal-labor-protections-will-ensure-access-to-affordable-quality-home-and-community-based-care-march-20-2012/).
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