Opinion: Extend Fair Pay Rules to Home Care Workers

In a HealthyCal opinion piece, Dorie Seavey -- policy research director for the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute -- and Eileen Boris -- chair of the Department of Feminist Studies at UC- Santa Barbara -- argue in favor of a proposed rule by the Obama administration to extend federal minimum wage and overtime rules to about 500,000 California home care works and nearly two million workers nationwide. They conclude that providing such protections "under the Fair Labor Standards Act would help make home care a respected occupation -- and ensure the stable, skilled home care workforce necessary to support growing numbers of Californians who, despite functional limitations, wish to live in their own homes and communities."

• "Fair Pay in Best Interests of Home Care Consumers" (Seavey/Boris, HealthyCal, 5/7).