Demos VP Tamara Draut Applauds Administration's Extension of Wage and Labor Protections to Home Care Workers

Today, the Obama administration extended minimum wage and labor protections to nearly two million home care workers, ensuring that these employees will now be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Last year, Demos submitted a public comment to the Department of Labor urging this regulation.

Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research, responded to the news:

“The Obama administration made the right, and long over-due, decision today. Home care workers give back to our country by caring for our elders and those who are unable to care for themselves. The protections offered by the Fair Labor Standards Act secure for these workers the basic wage and hour protections that most workers have enjoyed for decades.

"This rule will help lift hard-working Americans closer to the middle class, and expand our economy as a result.  It will ensure fairer pay for women, especially women of color, who disproportionately make up the workforce in this fast-growing industry. Not only does today’s action affirm the principle that all working people deserve basic work protections, but extending wage and hour protections to home care workers will enable them to better serve the clients who depend on their work every day.”

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