The pay levels for those involved in direct patient care is an example of the inaccuracy of the market in determining the intrinsic worth of much labor. Market principles don't apply because the consumers of the labor are, as a whole, not financially able to pay a sufficient wage for essential services. That is where we, as a society, must determine whether the value of the folks taking care of society's most vulnerable folks should be paid a wage the reflects their contribution to the quality of life - not only the quality of life for the patients, but the quality of life for the family. If we determine that such services have high intrinsic value, we should collectively pay for them.

Regards,

D-Ray

Nice!

Thumbs up!

He can't claim them as an independent contractor if he is withholding taxes, which is the case.

Good.






56

OK, so today they went to the job site and the client said no service was requested.

Is there any recourse given all these abuses given the person needs the job?

Not really. That is just how it is these days. To be frank your friend needs to increase his or her skill level....in other words become an RN. Even RNs can have it tough though depending on who they work for but it is much better than what home health care givers make.

If they were CALLED into work by that job site and then told they were not needed they should have least received two hours of normal pay IF they are being paid to be on call...that is how my hospital does it for techs. But the people your friend works for do not sound like they would do that.

I mean it sounds like a patient called his agency requesting a care giver but then the patient changed his mind. The agency should at least be paying for the time it took him to drive there.

'Show-up time' is something union workers get.

Here is what I think happened.

They called yesterday about this job as 6 hours at one client is a good days pay for this operation. Then... after confining this job they said, "oh, BTW, we have a one hour job just before this one, it's so convenient."

The client never called in, it was used as a carrot to get the one hour gig, at 6:30 am covered.

He needs to dump that agency if he can. Unless they are offering good benefits or he is getting pretty decent hours.

You say he makes $10? My wife makes $11 as a janitor in a California casino.
Your area in NY and mine in Socal are not too much different in terms of cost of living.

I know some x-ray techs that get hit with the same thing. The bad thing is that these agencies probably have a whole roster of people to do this too.

Now if he is brand new to the agency and wants to keep the job sometimes you have to do the really annoying stuff like what you just detailed in order to make a good reputation and gain regular hours....they tend to call those who tend to show up and thus give them regular hours because they have a reputation for reliability. But if he has been doing this for a few years then they are just using him to save money.

people working part time, what is the law?
 

If a person qualifies , they can get in home help from a federal program called In Home Supportive Services. The in home workers from IHSS are members of SEIU and receive some benefits.

Consumers pay on a sliding scale or receive free services depending on income. Family members can be the caregiver and get paid.

Also, (limited)free in home care is available to anyone over the age of sixty through the Older Americans Act (federal funding).

Contact your local Area Agency on Aging to find out about local services in your area.