Published: June 29, 2016

Since the federal Department of Labor ruled that homecare workers are covered by overtime laws, our bargaining team has been been negotiating with DHS for an implementation that is fair to workers, without putting services to our consumers at risk. We are excited to announce that after seven months of bargaining, we have reached an agreement with the State.

From the beginning, the State proposed to cap hours for homecare providers at 40 hours a week. Because there was a limited amount of money to pay overtime without putting services at risk, our team’s priority was to minimize the impact any hours cap would have on current providers who work more than 40 hours a week. Over the past seven months, thousands of us—workers and consumers alike—have joined together in union to demand that the State bargain a more fair and responsible hours cap.

The good news: our collective action worked! We made significant progress from the State’s original proposal for a 40 hour a week cap and no overtime pay until September. Because of our collective action, workers will receive overtime pay retroactive to January 1, 2016- which means over 32 million dollars going into homecare workers’ pockets!

Settlement Details
Effective Date of Overtime
  • Overtime will be paid retroactive to January 1, 2016 for any hours paid above 40 in a week. This is a huge win, especially since the State originally proposed delaying overtime until September.
  • The retroactive payments will be paid to workers no later than September 30, 2016.
  • These retro payments equal more than 32 million dollars going into workers’ pockets!
Hours limitation for workers currently working more than 40 hours a week (based on average number of hours paid in March, April and May)
  • A 50 hour per week hours limitation starting September 1, 2016. This is a big improvement over the State’s initial proposal of a 40/hr a week cap.
  • The 50 hour limitation will be implemented on a rolling basis (won’t be implemented until the first Consumer’s assessment after 9/1/16).
  • We secured language that allows Consumers to request an exception to this 50 hour limitation.
  • We pushed for and won language that workers in this group can continue to work up to 50 hours a week even if they start with a new Consumer.
  • Hourly, live-in, travel time and relief care hours all count towards the cap.
Hours limitation for: -Workers currently working less than 40 hours a week and -New workers as of June 1, 2016
  • There will be a 40/hour per week cap for:
    • workers currently working less than 40 hours in a week.
    • And any new workers as of June 1
  • Knowing there would need to be flexibility with this new policy, we secured language that allows Consumers to request an exception to this 40-hour per week cap due to workforce shortages or specific needs of a Consumer.
  • Hourly, live-in, travel time and relief care hours all count towards the cap.
24-hour Relief Care
  • We agreed to change the way payment for 24-hour relief care works. Instead of a $175 block payment, 24-hour relief care will be paid at $11/hr for a minimum of 16 hours a day. Workers will also be paid for any sleeptime services provided.  Hourly relief will not change and will continue to be paid at the workers applicable hourly rate.
Other Important Language
  • If a worker has multiple wage rates, overtime will be calculated at 1.5 times the worker’s weighted average rate.
  • Future overtime payments (earned after 9/1/16) will be paid one month in arrears. For instance, overtime earned in the 9/1/16-9/1/15/16 pay period will be issued during the mid-October payroll run (and the 9/16-9/30 overtime will be paid during the early Nov payroll run).
  • Hours worked for multiple Consumers and in multiple programs will all count towards calculating overtime.
  • If a worker is required to attend a training by DHS/OHA due to a Consumer’s care plan (like OIS training) they will now receive the OHCC training hourly stipend.
  • Workers should not work more hours than they are authorized unless in emergency situations to meet the needs of the Consumer. If a worker provides services outside of authorized hours, they must notify the Consumer’s case manager/personal agent within two business days.
  • For the purposes of calculating overtime the workweek will be considered 12:00am Sunday through 11:59pm Saturday.