Plight of Direct Care Workers @ Huffington Post
Posted by Kim on May 21st, 2008 / 
Print This Post
Over at the Huffington Post, Harold Pollack speaks up for direct care workers- CNA’s, home health aides and others. It’s good when our voice is heard at the bigger blogs.
Every day, my family and countless others trust direct care staff to care for our loved ones. Yet we pay them less than we pay many of the college students brewing skinny lattes at Starbucks. Meager staff pay and benefits are the shameful back story of the generally positive effort to move intellectually-disabled people out of state institutions into the community. Starting hourly wages for direct care workers are typically a dollar or two above minimum wage.
Not surprisingly, low morale and turnover are huge problems. Families hope that the job means more than a paycheck, especially since we can’t always monitor what they do. We hope that direct care workers treat our loved one with diligence, dignity, and skill he deserves. Many do. Given human nature, not every care worker earns the paycheck she doesn’t get to receive. I’ve met too many people who clock in, take the cruddy paycheck, and don’t do much else. If I got $9.85 per hour, I wouldn’t be the Energizer Bunny, either.
We do have our share of lazy peers who make us all look BAD. But in every line of work I have ever seen, including our Congress, there are lazy and uninspiring people to tend with.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Thanks for mentioning me. Keep up the good work.
Harold Pollack
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
You’re welcome Harold! Thanks for coming by.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:53 am
that is so true,we dont get the pay that we are worth.the place i work only pays on the 9th and 25 of each month,which isnt fair because if you work 50 hrs in the first week and30 in the second week you do not get over time,which i think isnt fair.what do other cnas think?
May 26th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Yes Stella..this is the 8/80 rule at work here.
I worked 56 hours last week and this week will work 32 hours. It’s my schedule. My facility goes by the 80 rule: No overtime paid in a pay period until 80 hours have been worked. Pay periods are usually two weeks for nursing.
This means that if I work my 8 hour shift, and pull a couple extra hours to help out the next shift, it’s not paid at time and a half UNTIL I have already worked 80 hours. I could work 72 hours in one week and not see a dime of extra pay…as long as I only work 8 hours the following week.
The 8 rule is rare in nursing. This would mean they have to pay us OT after each 8 hour shift AND after 40 hours in any one week.