For the last few years, a multiracial coalition of home health aides has been in a long-simmering crusade to improve working conditions for its mostly elderly, female, and immigrant workforce. The workers are pushing back against physically taxing 24-hour work shifts while earning staggeringly low pay as they care for the city’s elderly, disabled and hospiced individuals.
Most of their efforts, including the latest rally held last week on May Day or International Workers’ Day, have been to support a city bill that hasn’t gone anywhere—the No More 24 Act (Intro 615), introduced in the city council back in March—which the council says is technically out of its hands because the home health aide industry is regulated and funded by the state.
“It’s unbelievable that May Day originated when people in the 1800s were out there fighting for an eight-hour workday, and now we are out here with elderly home care attendants who are being forced to work 24-hour workdays,” said Sarah Shapiro, Cross Union Retirees Organizing Committee (CROC) representative.
Home care advocates told stories of how long hours and low pay have gone unchecked, even with a state law declaring that a home care worker can only be paid for up to 13 hours per shift.
But the group, which has held multiple rallies to garner support for their cause, including a 5-day hunger strike outside of City Hall in March, says city officials can do more, even with state laws already on the book. Speakers at the rally directed a significant amount of criticism toward City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who hasn’t passed the bill or put it to a vote.
“I was forced to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to take care of my patient. Because I couldn’t get any rest day and night, the old injury on my right leg flared up badly. The doctor diagnosed me with traumatic arthritis,” said former home care worker Jian Hua Deng, who had a translator present at the rally. “I had to have my hip replaced to regain normal function. Today we stand up and refuse to be slaves anymore. What a disgrace to the United States, a democratic country.”
The bill, introduced by Councilmember Christopher Marte, would require care agencies to cap worker shifts at a maximum of 12 working hours per day. They can assign additional hours only in the event of an emergency, but no more than two hours per day or ten hours per week. He claimed that he spoke with colleagues that would support the bill if it came to the floor for a vote.
The city council maintains that the home health care industry is a state issue, and passing a local law wouldn’t help. Adams did manage to pass Resolution 0202 after the women’s hunger strike that called on the state legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul to increase home care aide wages and improve their working conditions. That did little to assuage the situation.
“The funding and regulatory framework of home healthcare is determined by the state through Medicaid and State Department of Labor regulations and policies,” said a city council spokesperson. “Arguments that assert Int. 615 could alter this dynamic to protect home health aides are either misinformed or intentionally misleading and irresponsible. The Council’s position is that the state should enact legislation and policy changes to ensure home care workers are appropriately paid for their work and protected. We implore these advocates and workers against 24-hour home care shifts to make their voices heard on the state level, where a solution that improves the conditions of home care workers and maintains care for individuals with disabilities and other significant needs can be achieved.”
The state budget for 2024 included a minimum wage increase up to $15 for home care and non-home care workers. In the state’s financial plan for 2025, it’s noted that the wage increase costs are over $2.4 billion. New York City home health care workers and certain counties receive supplemental benefits that should include “paid leave, differential wages, premiums for certain shifts, education, and fringe benefits.” The state is also supposed to automatically increase the minimum wage to keep up with inflation from now on.
Meanwhile, the coalition has some support from the state level with Assemblymembers Harvey Epstein and Ron Kim, as well as Senator Roxanne Persaud. The senator introduced Senate Bill S6561, which limits the amount of hours a home care worker can be assigned.
“My father passed away on January 12 of this year,” Kim said at the rally. “For a year and a half he suffered from cancer, and toward the end, it was his home attendants that gave him the care he needed. When the time came, what he desperately needed were the extra hours of care. I called the insurance companies, they said we can give [him] 24-hour shifts.
“But I said no, we need split shifts,” he added. “And guess what they did—a day after my father passed, they called me saying, you got your split shifts. I shared that story because the system is broken [and] it’s broken because they prey on unpaid work that you put in every single day. It’s broken because they exploit immigrant workers [and] we normalize it because they think they can get away with it.”
The state’s responsibility for home care aides falls between the state Department of Health (NYS DOH) and Department of Labor (NYS DOL). The state DOH said that workers should be able to rely on fair pay schedules in accordance with the DOL’s Wage Order and home care agencies are responsible for compliance with these rules.
“The State Department of Health does not comment on proposed legislation,” the NYS DOH wrote in response to an Amsterdam News inquiry, indicating that further inquiries should be directed at the state DOL. “The New York State Department of Labor does not hold a position on proposed legislation. Our role is to enforce the labor laws as they are written and ensure that all workers are protected under those laws.”
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.