the supreme court handed down an astonishing decision june 11, ruling that under federal law, home-care workers are not entitled to overtime pay or the minimum wage. upholding outdated distinctions between those who labor inside and outside the home, the court excluded more than one million workers from the right to earn a fair wage.
for the plaintiff, seventy-three-year old evelyn coke, the decision means that the many overtime hours she put in during decades as a home care worker will remain unacknowledged and underpaid. for our nation, the decision is a stark reversal of our goal to have all workers be treated equally under the law. home care workers spend their days emptying bedpans, dressing wounds, and bathing and feeding those who are too old or too sick to care for themselves. but their median income is only $19,000 a year, and we apparently lack the will to at least guarantee overtime pay.
unfortunately, evelyn coke and her fellow home-care workers aren't alone. the court's ruling is only the latest symptom of an emerging trend in low-wage industries, where the fundamental legal protections that were hard-fought and hard-won in the last century are breaking down.
teeituptom, BSN, RN
4,283 Posts
So it doesnt guarantee overtime pay
you can always negotiate it.