You asked, we answered: Frequently asked questions from last night’s telephone town hall

In 2013, everyone’s hours were reduced by 8% as part of a lawsuit settlement that prevented a much larger 20% cut. Last July, this cut was reduced to 7%, and our union has been lobbying lawmakers to end the cut completely.

To us, any cuts to IHSS are unacceptable. We feel that the last thing the state should be doing is cutting care for seniors and people with disabilities.

That’s why we are pleased that the proposed state budget, which was released earlier this month, ends the 7% cut to IHSS hours. We have more work to do to make sure this passes, but we are glad that after years of campaigning, we finally have a good shot to end this cut once and for all.

The 7% cut is to client hours, not provider wages.

If the proposed budget is passed and the cut is restored, the 7% cut would end as of July 1 this year. But, to be clear, if lawmakers do not pass the legislation to restore funding for IHSS, the 7% will not automatically end in July. We have heard some comments along those lines, but unfortunately that is not true. So we need to stand together and work really hard this year to make it happen.

If you are already working max hours, and the 7% cut was applied to your client’s unmet need, you would see no difference in your hours once the cut is restored.

Many of you have received a letter from the state that says they are no longer paying overtime, due to a federal court ruling. We strongly oppose this action by the state, and our union is fighting to make sure IHSS providers get the pay we were promised.

We are outraged that the Governor Brown is refusing to pay the overtime that we fought for and won in last year’s budget. And it’s not just overtime. The Department of Labor regulations would have also given providers pay for travel time and wait time at doctor’s appointments – and now the state is saying they won’t pay any of it.

This is the result of a federal lawsuit that was filed by for-profit homecare agencies that don’t want to pay their employees. It’s hard to believe, but there are homecare providers in some parts of the country who don’t even have the right to a minimum wage. The Department of Labor rules would have changed that, and we are appalled that this federal judge sided with bosses to stop the new rules from going into effect.

Shortly after the ruling came down, the Brown Administration announced it would not fulfill its commitment to pay IHSS providers here in California. You may remember that last year, caregivers and our union successfully stopped the governor from denying IHSS providers the right to earn overtime, AND we won hundreds of millions of dollars in the state budget to pay caregivers.

Now we are fighting back to make sure the governor moves forward with the state’s commitment to IHSS providers.

No, there isn’t. The federal court ruling does NOT prohibit the state from moving forward. In fact, we feel that there are some compelling reasons for the state to pay IHSS providers. There was a state law passed last year that spells out how IHSS providers would be compensated for overtime pay.  We sent a letter to the Governor and legislative leaders outlining our arguments, and we are telling the Governor that the right thing to do is fulfill the state’s commitment to IHSS providers.

The Department of Labor did in fact file an appeal, and it is on a fast-track for review, meaning that we could see a decision in our favor as early as July 2015. But regardless of the court order, we feel that California can and should move forward with its commitment to IHSS providers.

This is something our union will be fighting for. Although the state is not currently requiring it, we think it is wise to keep track of your own overtime hours, time spent traveling between clients on the same day, and medical accompaniment time.

There are no penalties for working overtime while overtime pay is on hold because there are no caps in place.

UDW’s position since the beginning has been that there should be no cap on the number of hours that any worker can work. In the final deal that went with through the Legislature, the state insisted on a cap of 66 hours. We responded that we were not going to let this go for homecare workers who have two children, and for clients who have more than 283 hours through waiver programs. We have been working with the state to create an exemption for people who fall into these unique categories (only 1% of providers would see a decrease in income with overtime pay in effect). We were close to achieving a resolution that would have benefited most people in this categories when the ruling came out, which has stalled our talks. Should we be successful in winning overtime pay back, we are committed to passing this exemption to make sure nobody is negatively impacted by overtime pay.

We need everyone’s help. Right now we are fighting to protect the hundreds of millions of dollars that caregivers won in the budget, and demanding full retroactive pay for IHSS providers who should have been paid starting on January 1st.

We know that not all providers work more than 40 hours per week, but the overtime issue is about IHSS providers having the same rights as other workers – it’s about treating homecare like the job it is. Homecare workers are not companions or babysitters!

So we have launched a statewide campaign to tell the Governor to do the right thing. We don’t need to pass any new laws – the Governor simply needs to move forward with paying the overtime.

Right now we are talking to lawmakers and community leaders across the state to help us send that message to Governor Brown. Thousands of people have signed our online petition, and several media outlets have reported on what this administration is doing to homecare workers.

Soon, we will be holding town hall meetings in all of our counties – we will post this information on our website, and we need all of you to come to these meetings and speak out against this injustice. We will also be protesting at the State Capitol and you can contact us if you are interested in sharing your story with the public.

Yes – and you can read all about it right here. Most other questions about the new timesheets can also be answered on our timesheet post.

We met with the people who do timesheets and payroll for IHSS to ask them about this issue, and they said there were several causes for this month’s delays:

• For the first timesheet period in January with the new timesheets, many providers forgot to cut off the instructions before mailing. If this part is not removed from the timesheet, it cannot be easily fed through the machine that reads the timesheets, and a delay could occur.
• The timesheet processing facility in Chico received 279,000+ timesheets the day after the MLK holiday. This was abnormally high and took a day longer to process than normal. But even with this influx, they expect providers to still get their paychecks and timesheets with 10 business days of receipt in Chico.
• As of Jan. 1, 2015, all timesheets are mailed from EDD (Employment Development Department) headquarters in Sacramento. They were previously mailed from the timesheet processing facility in Chico.
• Under normal (non-holiday) circumstances, it should not take more than 3-5 days to process a timesheet through CMIPS II. Then EDD takes another three days afterward to process a new timesheet. Combined, it should take 10 business days from the time a timesheet is received in Chico for the provider to receive the next timesheet.
• If a provider does not receive a timesheet or paycheck after 10 business days passes, he or she should contact the county social worker and the county provider help desk. (See timesheet post for phone numbers.)
• If a provider receives his or her check but not the next timesheet, wait 3 business days after receipt of the check before contacting the county.
• As of 1/1/15, the U.S. Postal Service no longer guarantees 1-day delivery of first class mail. This could add to potential delays.

 

Please note: The state does not foresee having similar issues in February and describes these problems as “growing pains with implementation of new timesheet.”

Last year AB 1522 guaranteed paid sick leave for all Californians except IHSS homecare providers. In 2015, we are committed to fighting for paid sick leave for IHSS workers, because we deserve the same rights as all other working Californians.

Different counties have different wage rates because we currently bargain for wages and benefits at the county level. The Board of Supervisors in Riverside County, for instance, is much more supportive of IHSS workers and allows us to work at a higher rate than providers in San Diego (even though San Diego County is one of the richest counties in the country.)

We agree that this system is unfair, and that’s why we are pushing to move to state level bargaining. We are also still working at the county level to elect new BOS members who are supportive of our program, and to fight for better wages and benefits in counties where our members do not make a living wage.

Each county has an Advocacy Council made up of UDW caregivers who host advocacy workshops to help providers navigate IHSS and help clients get the hours of care that they need. We have seen many successes including increasing client hours and winning back pay for providers. Click here to find out more information.