NWLC Applauds New Workplace Protections for Home-Care Workers

(Washington, D.C.) Today Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez announced a rule change that would extend the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law, to the nearly 2.5 million people who are employed as home-care workers. 

The following is a statement by NWLC Co-President Nancy Duff Campbell: 

“We applaud the Department of Labor for recognizing the importance of protecting a neglected group — the home-care workers who have been underpaid and undervalued for far too long. The workers in the rapidly expanding home-care industry — overwhelmingly women and disproportionately women of color — provide a lifeline every day for the elderly and disabled. But their stressful and physically demanding jobs lack the basic protections of federal minimum wage and overtime laws. The median wage for home health care workers employed full-time is approximately $21,000 a year. These regulations will help reduce poverty and advance fair pay for women, especially welcome steps in light of today’s Census news about persistently high poverty and a stagnant wage gap for women.” 

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