NCLEJ Strongly Opposes USDOL Proposal to Deprive Labor Protections to Homecare Workers
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice has submitted our comments to the US Department of Labor over their proposed rule to rescind the 2013 Home Care Final Rule extending FLSA protections to domestic workers, which would deprive more than 3.7 million homecare workers of their rights to receive minimum wage and overtime.
The proposed rule will exacerbate the workforce shortage and make it harder for consumers to obtain home care services, may cause the quality of services provided to deteriorate, and will worsen the economic precarity of home care workers and increase their risk of occupational injury. It would also have discriminatory effects on the disabled, women, immigrants, and people of color, who will be disproportionately harmed by the proposed changes.
NCLEJ urges the US Department of Labor to preserve the 2013 Home Care Final Rule.
In New York City, we’ve been engaged in a multiyear struggle to secure justice for homecare workers, all low-income immigrant women of color, who have experienced extreme wage theft by being forced to work 24-hour shifts for only 13 hours of pay.
Here is a breakdown of our recent advocacy:
- In October 2024, we filed a lawsuit against GreatCare Inc., CenterLight Health System Inc., and one or more managed long-term care plans (MLTCs) under contract with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for unlawfully underpaying homecare workers for only 13 hours of their 24-hour shifts.
- In August 2023, we sued the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) to force them to reopen their wage theft investigation after hundreds of unpaid wage claims were suddenly closed.
- In October 2022, we filed a Federal Title VI complaint against the NYSDOL and NYSDOH for discrimination against home care workers and consumers on the basis of their race and national origin.
