Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker – along with leaders from the Pennsylvania Departments of Human Services (DHS), and Aging, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, labor partners, worker advocates, and home care workers – today announced the launch of Standing Up for Home Care Workers, a strategic labor law enforcement initiative to protect home care workers’ wages and ensure home care agencies and other third-party employers comply with Pennsylvania law.
Led by L&I and carried out by its Bureau of Labor Law Compliance (BLLC), the initiative will use proactive investigations, outreach, and partnerships to focus enforcement in an industry where workers are particularly vulnerable to wage violations and where complaints are substantial.
“Home care workers take care of our Pennsylvania families. They help seniors and people with disabilities live safely, independently, and with dignity in their own homes,” said Secretary Walker. “These workers are entitled to receive the wages they are owed for hours worked. Through Standing Up for Home Care Workers, we are putting our enforcement resources where they are needed and using the tools available under Pennsylvania law to make sure workers are paid for all the time they work and employers are held accountable when they fail to follow the law.”
Most labor law investigations begin when a worker files a complaint. Our approach in this initiative is different. Through collaboration with our partners, we have launched proactive investigations into several home care agencies to identify and remedy wage-related violations. Beginning today, BLLC is sending notices to home care agencies to launch investigations into potential wage-related violations. These investigations will examine whether covered workers are receiving the wages they are owed for all hours worked, including overtime when required by law.
Roughly 40 percent of Minimum Wage Act complaints in Pennsylvania come from home care workers. These complaints represent only a small fraction of worker exploitation in this industry, making it a priority for state wage enforcement. Minimum Wage Act complaints often involve unpaid overtime, unpaid hours worked, improper overtime calculations, inaccurate records, or other pay practices that prevent workers from receiving the wages they are owed.
Under Pennsylvania law, most home care workers employed by third-party agencies are protected by state minimum wage and overtime law. Covered workers must be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week.
“Older adults are choosing to age in their homes and communities. Making that possible depends on having a strong, stable, and respected home care workforce. When families cannot find a home care worker, older adults may go without the help they deserve with everyday tasks we can do and take for granted. Family caregivers are forced to leave work or take on additional responsibilities. And too often, people end up in more restrictive and more expensive settings not because it is what they want, but because the workforce simply is not there,” said Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich. “Hardworking professionals who dedicate themselves to caring for others deserve to be treated fairly and paid properly for every hour they work. That is not only the law, it is fundamental to building a workforce that people want to join and remain a part of.”
