Fair Labor Standards Act:

Home-Care Workers Aren’t Just ‘Companions’

By EILEEN BORIS and JENNIFER KLEIN, Op-Ed contributors
The New York Times  Published: July 1, 2012,

NOT long after announcing his candidacy in 2007, Barack Obama spent a day working alongside Pauline Beck, a home health care aide in Oakland, Calif. Together, they cooked breakfast and lunch, cleaned house and did the laundry. Last December, the president mentioned his day with Ms. Beck when he proposed placing most home-care employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, from which many of them have long been excluded.

Mr. Obama proposed revising a Labor Department rule so that it would give home attendants and aides the protections, like overtime pay, that most American workers take for granted. The department opened an extended comment period and received some 26,000 statements, two-thirds of them positive. It is now deliberating on a final rule.  Read more

A National Victory for Home Care Providers!

Three UDW members; Olive Lyons from Riverside (2nd on the right from President Obama), Michelle Wise from San Diego (back row, far right), and Elva Munoz (front row, far right) from Santa Barbara attended a White House ceremony as President Obama announced proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will affect home healthcare workers nationwide. New rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor would provide minimum wage protections for nearly two million workers who provide in-home care services for the elderly and infirmed.

Four years ago, President Obama spent the day with Pauline Beck, a home health care worker. He followed her throughout her day — as she got up at 5:00 in the morning to care for an 86-year-old amputee. He saw first-hand the demands of her work.

Take a minute to watch this video and learn the story of Pauline Beck, and how she brought the circumstance of homecare workers to the attention of the President.  Read More