In a landmark decision, an arbitrator ruled Friday that 42 home care staffing agencies must pay $30 million into a “special wage fund” to compensate workers who were underpaid for these shifts and for other assignments dating as far back as 2008.
Lidia Vilorio, a home health aide, does her patient's laundry on May 05, 2021 in Haverstraw, New York.Lidia Vilorio, a home health aide, does her patient's laundry on May 05, 2021 in Haverstraw, New York.for 24-hour shifts.
Many of the workers’ claims stem from a state policy allowing them to be paid for 13 hours of a 24-hour shift. Under the law, aides are supposed to get eight hours of sleep — at least five of which are uninterrupted — and three hours for meals during each 24-hour shift spent in an elderly or disabled client’s home.
But grassroots labor organizers who have been working to get home health aides fair pay for 24-hour shifts worry the new fund may not be big enough.