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The New York Times/ ­- Politics, Seg, 16 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Keeping a Promise to Home Care Aides
Evelyn Coke, who died in 2009 at age 74, was a home
care aide whose case for fair pay went to the
Supreme Court in 2007, where she lost 9 to 0. At
issue were federal rules that define home care aides
as “companions,” a label that exempts employers from
having to pay minimum wage and time­-and­-a­-half for
overtime. The justices said that only Congress or the
Labor Department could change the rules.Pauline
Beck is a home care aide in California. In 2007,
then­-Senator Barack Obama was paired with Ms. Beck
for an event called “Walk a Day in My Shoes,” in which
he worked for a day at her job caring for an
86­-year­-old amputee.
Last Dec. 15, with Ms. Beck at his side, President
Obama invoked Ms. Coke’s memory and announced,
“Today, we’re guaranteeing home care workers
minimum­-wage and overtime pay protections.” He was
referring to sensible new rules, proposed by the Labor
Department, to revise the companionship exemption.
The problem is that the new rules have yet to be
finalized, and could still be derailed or watered down.
The Labor Department has until the end of May to
digest thousands of comments on its proposal. Most of
the comments were supportive, including those from
home care agencies that already adhere to fair pay
laws, professional health associations, labor activists
and advocates for the elderly. Opposition came mainly
from for­-profit home care franchisees — a growing
segment in a traditionally nonprofit industry — who
said that fair pay would devastate affordable home
care. That is the same argument that prevailed in
2002, when reforms proposed at the end of the Clinton
administration were spiked.
This time around, proponents for change have been
better organized and armed with research to rebut
such claims. But now as then, for­-profit agencies have
taken their complaints to the Small Business
Administration, setting up a conflict with the Labor
Department.
Even if the new rules survive the Labor Department
review intact, they must then be approved by the White
House Office of Management and Budget, a process
that could bog down in the face of interagency
disagreements. It will take Mr. Obama’s engaged
leadership to ensure that the long­-overdue new rules,
which offer basic fairness for home care aides, are
carried out.
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