Bay Area Health Care Workers Rights Attorneys
Health Care Workers Rights
The financial health of the health care industry has consistently been one of the bright spots in what otherwise seems like gloomy economic news. The industry has registered double-digit growth rates over the last decade, and the demand for its services is likely to increase as more baby boomers enter retirement.
But how does the industry take care of its own front line workers, the nurses, home health aides, and nursing home workers who care for the millions of sick, disabled, and elderly in our communities? As it turns out, not very well. Some employers pay their workers on a per visit basis but fail to pay them for all the time they spend at a particular facility or site, or the time they spend traveling from one facility to the next. Other employers misclassify their health care employees as independent contractors or overtime-exempt to avoid reimbursing them for expenses and paying for overtime hours worked. And some workers are denied off-duty meal period and rest breaks required by California law.
The Domestic Worker Bill of Rights
The law is starting to catch up with the industry, though. On January 1, 2014, the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (AB 241) came into effect. This California law limits the number of consecutive hours home health care workers may work and requires that they are paid overtime wages for work shifts in excess of a certain number of hours. And beginning January 1, 2015, home health workers will receive the protections of federal overtime and minimum wage laws.
If you are a nurse, skilled home health provider, home health care worker, nursing home assistant, or other health care worker, your employer may not be providing you with all the protections and benefits required by California and/or federal law. For example, if you work in California for any of the following companies, you may have a claim for unpaid overtime or other California wage and hour violations:
- AccentCare
- Seniorbridge Family Companies
- Life Care Centers of America
- Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc.
- Health Management Associates
To find out more about your rights, and the employment benefits to which you are entitled, contact an attorney.
