Since August 1998, when I was 16 years old, I have been dependent upon a unique class of professionals for all of my physical needs. These hard working men and women were integral to my earning two Ivy League degrees, my professional success, and really anything that I have achieved since leaving my parents’ home in 1998. On the East Coast we call them Personal Care Attendants, other regions refer to them as Personal Assistants. They, together with the slightly better trained Home Health Aides and Certified Nurse’s Aides, make up the incredible corps of giving, caring individuals that facilitate the lives of countless people with disabilities in order that they can live independently. It will surprise few who are familiar with the economic realities of this country that, demographically speaking, this population of workers tends to be only high school educated (if that) and disproportionately minority, immigrant and female. It may be more surprising that, currently, due to a companion care exemption in the regulations implementing the FLSA, these individuals are not provided with mandatory overtime in excess of 40 hours, let alone items like sick time. (Arguably, even the current exemption is over applied, but that is outside of the scope of my post.)
The Obama administration has proposed regulations to end this exception, and they take effect soon. This is causing great consternation in the disability and caregiving communities, and Jeff Rosen, the Chairman of the National Council on Disability, on which I served until recently, has written a letter asking Labor Secretary Tom Perez to delay the implementation. The purported purpose of this delay is to
“allow DOL [Department of Labor] and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) more time to work with States as well as the disability and aging communities to understand the policy and operational issues, develop workable solutions on key components, and determine an appropriate course of action.”
With due respect to Chairman Rosen, this is a naked delay disguised with bureaucratic obfuscation. I was one of the moderators of the January 2013 meeting referenced in the letter, and the policy and operational issues could not be clearer.
As I said in the introductory paragraph, we who use these services are deeply aware of the value of the loyal service of these dedicated individuals. None of us want to see them get anything less than the very best, and not a single voice argued that they deserved anything less than that which is promised to other American workers.
Rather, there is a reality that no one wants to talk about. The vast majority of Americans, myself included, receive these services through government programs, the most common of which being Medicaid. Practically speaking, current state Medicaid budgets could not cover time and a half for these workers, and the likelihood of these budgets being changed simply because the Department of Labor changes the regulations is nonexistent. So what would happen?
Every current care attendant, personal assistant, or home health aide would be cut safely below 40 hours per week. I know this argument is often used to attempt to invalidate the goals and protections of the FLSA, but ask the reader to recognize that the incentives are entirely different when the person making the payment decision is completely distinct from the person benefiting from the labor. If a factory owner wants to split shifts to avoid paying overtime, that owner bears the cost of the labor inefficiency of multiple workers in the same job. The choice, whether to pay more or hire more, is a simple economic calculation, made by the decision maker. In this instance, neither the worker nor the beneficiary of the labor is making the decisions. To the budget official making Medicaid decisions, quality and continuity of care is only the most abstract consideration.
Here, essentially, everyone loses. The person with a disability loses because rather than have appropriately designed shifts balancing the needs of worker and consumer for maximum efficiency for both, they must arbitrarily break at the 40 hour line. Further, as the expression goes, good help is hard to find. To remain under 40 hours per week, the consumer may need to hire more people, and face the difficulty of fielding a larger team of staff with good skills and good fit. The person who loses most of all is the worker. There is no question that the worker would be better off working 60 hours where 20 are at time and a half than working 60 hours at time, but the real distinction is 60 hours at time versus 40.
What, then, to do? Most disability advocates are pushing strongly for the status quo, and I agree that the status quo would be better than the scenario that I outlined above. But what about real courage? What about saying to the Department of Labor and to the States “we support the proposed rule, Mr. Secretary, but we demand that part of self-determination is to free up the funds to authorize overtime as we see fit.” This would be a courageous option, protecting the rights of our caregivers while ensuring the needs of our consumers are met.
To my former colleagues, I say this. The answer is not difficult. Frankly, I have outlined our choices in two paragraphs. The hard part is gathering the conviction to push for the right decision, because this letter feels like merely trying to delay it.
