For immediate release:
December 21, 2021
New York – Six home care workers of Scharome Cares and the Ain’t I a Woman?! Campaign celebrate a great victory: the settlement of $600,000 for unpaid minimum wages and overtime wages, in particular, the unpaid 11 night hours in a 24-hour shift. This victory is shared by all home care workers in NYC who have been leading the fight to end the 24-hour workday. It is a step in the right direction to abolish the inhumane shift altogether and implement split shifts of maximum 12-hours each.
For years, the six home health care aides worked multiple, consecutive 24-hour shifts, providing almost constant care throughout the day and night to their patients. They provided critical care, including diapering, incontinence care, dressing and cleaning throughout the day and night. The agency knew that the plaintiffs’ patients generally could not be cared for safely and properly without around-the-clock attention and monitoring but only paid for 13 hours of the day.
In this unprecedented settlement, the workers received back wages for all 11 hours they were not paid for each 24-hour day they worked, as well as part of the overtime wages. As a result, workers will receive the equivalent of 15 hours of wages for the unpaid 11 hours. This is significantly more than what other workers have been able to receive from previous settlements.
Shao Ning Meng, Scharome Care home attendant representative, said “We are very pleased with the settlement of this case. However, 24-hour workdays have caused a lot of health problems to us home care workers and no amount of compensation can make up for our suffering. Therefore, we call on all home care agencies to stop 24-hour workdays.”
Many home care workers have spoken out against the great physical and mental trauma this 24-hour workday causes and demand that their agencies stop them. The 24-hour shifts have destroyed the lives of countless women of color as they are forced to stay in their patients’ homes for days on end, isolated from everyone, unable to sleep, and without time to rest while performing physically and mentally demanding work.
This settlement sets a new standard for back pay for all agencies to follow. The Ain’t I a Woman?! Campaign urges all agencies to follow the lead of Scharome Cares and pay back all unpaid wages to its workers, stop the ongoing wage theft, and most importantly, stop subjecting women of color to the violent 24-hour workday.
Media Contact:
Sarah Ahn, 646-409-8056, aiwcampaign@gmail.com
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