1999-2008: UDW caregivers win our collective bargaining rights and transform our union to one for caregivers by caregivers. We also win direct deposit for our IHSS paychecks!

2009: UDW stops Governor Schwarzeneggar’s attempt to decrease the state’s contribution to our wages and benefits and put unfair limits on who can receive car

2010: Together we stop Governor Schwarzeneggar from eliminating IHSS entirely.

2011: 

• We also win legislation that both ends timesheet fingerprint requirements, and requires counties to give us our background check results and appeals information.
• We successfully urge lawmakers to protect IHSS by finding new funding when Governor Brown tries to end certain vital services and cut recipient hours by 12%

2012:  UDW and home care advocates file lawsuits to stop Governor Brown’s proposed 20% cut to IHSS.

2013: 

• We settle three lawsuits – putting an end to massive IHSS cuts proposed by both governors in 2009 and 2012. The settlement includes a one-year 8% cut, and an ongoing 7% cut.
• The U.S. Department of Labor updates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to extend overtime pay to home care workers after decades of exclusion.

2014: We block Governor Brown’s attempt to limit provides to 40 hours per week and avoid paying us overtime. 

2015: 

• UDW caregivers successfully end the 7% cut to our client’s hours for one year.
• After months of intense pressure by UDW caregivers, the state announces that overtime, travel time, and medical wait time pay will begin February 2016.
• UDW wins legislation requiring training for law enforcement on how to better interact with people with mental illness, intellectual disabilities, and substance abuse disorders – keeping people with disabilities safer in our communities.

 

2016:

• Once again, we stop the 7% cut – this time through 2019
• UDW caregivers fight alongside other low-wage workers for a law that increases California’s minimum wage to $15 by 2022, and gives providers paid sick leave for the first time ever.
• We take action to fix the broken IHSS payroll system. We win a state-level audit of the problems causing paycheck and timesheet delays, and pressure the state to implement optional electronic timesheets starting in 2017

 

A new president means a new administration and new policies. And new policies or changes to existing ones can have effects on the IHSS program. While we don’t know what will happen yet, there are some things IHSS providers and recipients should be aware of as we continue our work to protect and strengthen California’s home care program.

• Congress and the President-elect could change Medicaid from an entitlement program to a block grant program. This means, instead of states being required to cover every person who meets eligibility criteria and provide at least a minimum standard of benefits, Medicaid funds would be given to each state as a lump sum and each state would decide how they want to spend it. There is a high risk that this would result in reduced federal money for a state because block grants do not take into account Medicaid caseload growth or inflation.

What could that mean for IHSS? Benefits and eligibility for Medicaid-funded programs like IHSS here in California could be cut if federal funding is reduced. Remember, 55 percent of funding for the IHSS program comes from Medicaid, so changes to Medicaid funding will be felt by providers and our clients.

• The President-elect pledged to do away with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka “Obamacare”, and Republican leaders in Congress have long called for its repeal.

What could that mean for IHSS? Right now, many UDW caregivers and our families are among the estimated 20 million people who get their health insurance through the ACA. Many of us receive subsidies through Covered California, or receive Medi-Cal through the ACA’s expanded eligibility. In addition, California participates in the Community First Choice Option (CFCO), a program available through the ACA that provides increased funding to states who promote home and community based services like IHSS.  Changing or repealing the ACA could mean reduced funding for IHSS and leave many of us without health coverage.

• The President-elect could reverse the recent change to the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that gives home care providers overtime and other benefits that we fought hard to secure.

What could that mean for IHSS? If this happens, federal funding for overtime pay goes away. This likely means the State will stop paying IHSS providers overtime pay, as our law states that it’s only required if authorized by federal law.

• Congress and the President-elect could reduce funding for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) as part of broader changes to federal entitlement programs.

What could that mean for IHSS? The majority of our IHSS clients depend on SSI as their only or primary source of income. If SSI is cut, our clients’ quality of life could suffer.

Because IHSS is funded by the state and federal government, its future is tied directly to what happens in Sacramento and Washington D.C. That’s why we must be stronger together – to fight to protect our clients and loved ones in the face of these potential threats to our program.

UDW will keep you posted on how the recent election can and will affect providers, clients, and our families. Want to get involved in our efforts? Call your local UDW office today.

My name is Aurora Viramontes Rivera, and I work as a home care provider for two of my children in Orange County, California. I am overjoyed and grateful that home care workers are now eligible for overtime pay. For my family, the added income has drastically improved our quality of life.

I’ve always been appreciative that the In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS) gives me the opportunity to provide my children with the best care possible. I’m not just their mother. I’m the caregiving professional who knows their conditions and their needs best.

Unfortunately, while I love my work, it hasn’t always been easy. Both Atzel and Alix live with disabilities, but when Atzel was initially given fewer hours of in-home care a month than his condition requires, it impacted our entire family. Thankfully my union, the United Domestic Workers/AFSCME Local 3930 (UDW), was able to help us secure 200 additional hours of care for Atzel by helping me successfully appeal the original assessment.

The extra home care hours ensure that no matter who his caregiver is, Atzel will always have the amount of care he needs. Since I am Atzel’s current caregiver, it also translates into real dollars for our family.
The changes for our family didn’t stop at extra hours. When I found out home care providers were finally going to be paid fairly for all the hours we work, I couldn’t believe it. As a professional caregiver, I know how tough our work is, but to know that our elected leaders were finally acknowledging that was great. Overtime pay for home care providers means that caregivers are receiving basic rights that most Americans probably take for granted.

My family sure hasn’t taken it for granted. I have far fewer sleepless nights. The extra money overtime provided allowed my husband and I to move our family of six out of our tiny apartment and into a roomier three-bedroom house. My kids are happier, and I have more peace of mind as I watch them play in our backyard. We also bought a more reliable car, which we use to transport our children to their doctors’ appointments.

Overtime pay means I can actually save money, and my family’s goal is to save enough to purchase our own home. For me, overtime pay isn’t about giving home care providers extra, it’s about giving us the pay we’ve worked for, that we need and our families deserve.

My name is Toni Monique Taloa, and I’m a home care provider in Buena Park, California. I initially became a professional home care worker to take care of my elderly grandmother. My grandmother was originally assessed just 80 hours of in-home care each month – far less than she needed – by California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) home care program. My union, the United Domestic Workers/AFSCME Local 3930 (UDW), helped me successfully appeal the decision, and my grandmother’s home care hours were increased from 80 to 283 per month.

As a person who honestly did not believe in the power of being a union member, this help was just what was needed to change my mind. After that I wanted to know what else the collective power of home care workers could accomplish, so I became a UDW volunteer. As a more involved member, I would eventually become one of the many home care providers in California who fought for fair implementation of our overtime benefits.

My grandmother has since passed away, but I’ve been responsible for my sister Tonya’s care since 2012. When Tonya was born, she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, also known as water on the brain, which caused cerebral palsy. When I learned my sister had been moved into a nursing home, I took her out and moved her into my home. I knew my sister would get the best possible care among family with me working as her caregiver.

Unfortunately, despite the vital, cost saving nature of our profession, working as a home care provider has been rough on my budget. There have been many times when I wasn’t really living, I was just surviving. And it’s not just me who is affected: my sister Tonya depends on me to provide for her needs as well, including food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and medication.

That’s why I got involved with my fellow UDW home care workers in our fight to win overtime pay. I knew we were excluded, but I never knew why. I was excited when in 2011, President Obama announced in-home caregivers would soon receive basic labor protections like overtime. And I joined my fellow caregivers in celebration when the U.S. Department of Labor amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to include home care workers after decades of unfair exclusion.

After the announcement at the federal level, we fought hard, wading through challenges in the courts and from our own governor. When overtime was finally implemented here in California for IHSS home care providers, it changed not only my life, but Tonya’s as well.

Now that I have overtime pay, I’ve been able to comfortably provide Tonya with the food her condition requires her to have. I’m able to pay our rent, and no longer live with the fear that we could be evicted from our home, forcing me into a shelter and Tonya back into a nursing home. Overall, overtime pay was crucial to ensuring Tonya and I are able to remain in our home. And the extra money overtime provides gave me something I think is priceless: time. Tonya has a second home care provider who comes in 20 hours per month to give me a break – something we would not have been able to afford in the past.

It’s Labor Day weekend. For many Americans that means a three-day weekend to eat barbecue and enjoy the last days of summer with loved ones, but Labor Day represents a lot more. As we go All In for Care at the bargaining table to win better pay and benefits for caregivers, we should keep in mind the history of the holiday.

Labor Day was created by union members in the late 1800s to recognize the contributions workers have made to building our country, and making it prosperous. Home care workers and other domestic workers have cared for our nation’s seniors and people with disabilities for decades, even centuries. Our work keeps this country moving forward by ensuring that those who need it have access to the quality care they deserve. The care we provide allows people to age with dignity, and allows individuals with disabilities to receive care at home rather than institutions.

It’s important to recognize the achievements and value of workers, but to also remember that some workers, including home care providers remain undervalued and underappreciated. Labor Day became a national holiday in 1896, but IHSS providers still work without paid holidays. And until last year, we’d endured decades of exclusion from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which gave most workers overtime pay benefits almost 80 years ago.

UDW caregiver William Reed from Placer County provides care for his adult son who lives with autism. William recently spoke out about the need to treat IHSS providers with the same respect as other workers. “Our work is real work,” he said. “It’s time to make a change, and start treating the work of all home care providers with dignity and respect.”

It’s true, and UDW caregivers have had to fight for many of the same basic rights most workers enjoy automatically. Whether it’s securing overtime, stopping cuts to the IHSS program, or helping raise the state’s minimum wage; we have proved that when we fight together, we can win!

Marcus Haynes is an IHSS provider in Riverside County. He provides care for his uncle who lives with schizophrenia. Marcus is also a member of the bargaining team that includes other UDW members from Riverside, as well as San Diego and Orange counties. Providers in those counties are currently in contract negotiations with the state in an effort to win better pay and benefits for IHSS providers in all three counties. “Some of us do the same work as nurses, but we don’t make a living wage,” said Marcus. “Bargaining together gives us all a voice in the process to improve our wages.”

Marcus and the bargaining team are fighting for an immediate raise, improved health care, paid sick leave, and vacation time. However, the state continues to devalue our work. The state’s contract proposal includes keeping providers at minimum wage with no raise, and no improvements to our benefits.

We will continue to fight, because we are All In for Care! Whether you are bargaining with the state, or

your county’s public authority, we must all continue to unite together to win more for our families. Darlene Nelson who works as an IHSS provider for her two adult daughters recently spoke out about not settling for low wages and poor benefits at a rally in San Diego. “Our work and our clients’ care is worth far more than the minimum,” she said. “I’m all in for care!”

This Labor Day weekend and beyond, if you are All In for Care, call 1-866-584-5792, and tell your lawmaker to support pay and benefit increases for IHSS providers.

After decades of exclusion from Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protections, home care providers won overtime pay for the first time in history last year. And on February 1^st, FLSA benefits began for eligible IHSS providers. Now, many of us are eligible to receive overtime, travel time, and medical wait time pay – great benefits for caregivers and our families. UDW caregivers fought hard to secure these new benefits, and now we’re working to make sure they are implemented fairly.

Throughout the year, UDW members have lobbied and testified to lawmakers at the Capitol about the new program rules, and urged them to ensure they are helpful rather than harmful to providers and our clients. “We fought long and hard for overtime,” UDW member Nelson Retuya from Placer County told lawmakers. “Let’s make sure it works for home care workers and recipients.”

Our goal this year is to urge lawmakers to employ several changes to the new IHSS program rules. The changes will ensure that caregivers are treated fairly, and our home care clients receive care without harmful interruptions.

We’ve asked the legislature to adopt four actions in the Governor’s 2016-17 budget for IHSS:

1. Extend the grace period for program violations to September 1^st.

IHSS program violations are consequences for submitting your IHSS timesheet with hours that exceed overtime or travel time limits. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) originally announced violations would begin on May 1^st. Providers who receive multiple violations risk being terminated from working for the IHSS program. UDW has asked lawmakers to extend the start date to September 1^st to give the state time to thoroughly implement all necessary policy changes, and to give providers and clients time to fully understand the new rules, so we can avoid receiving violations.

2. Ensure eligible IHSS providers and recipients have access to overtime rule exemptions.

CDSS should notify eligible IHSS providers about exemptions for which we qualify, and create an appeals process for providers who believe they were incorrectly denied an exemption. Exemptions are important because they ensure that high-need clients or clients with special circumstances can continue to receive all the hours of care they rely on from their home care providers. Read more about exemptions here: http://www.udwa.org/2016/04/exemptions-to-timesheet-weekly-work-limits.

3. Ensure providers do not receive inaccurate violations.

Right now, counties have a five-day review process before they issue an IHSS provider a violation. Counties should have no less than 10 days to review potential violations in order to cut down on the number of providers who receive invalid violations. Remember, violations include penalties that increase in severity all the way up to a one-year termination from the program. This means it is imperative that providers do not receive violations for no reason.

4. Create an easy to understand workweek limit.

Right now, workweek limits are determined by the number of IHSS clients a provider has, which means providers have different caps on our workweek hours. In order to reduce confusion, UDW caregivers have asked for a 70 hour and 45 minute workweek limit for all providers (with the exception of providers who have received an exemption allowing them to work up to 90 hours per week).

UDW will keep members updated on our work to improve the implementation of our new benefits as the state budget process continues.

Remember, we can familiarize ourselves with the current overtime, travel time, and medical wait time rules by visiting www.udwa.org/timesheets.

In addition to overtime and travel time pay, IHSS providers who qualify will receive pay for medical wait time starting on February 1, 2016. Medical wait time is the time spent waiting for your client during authorized medical accompaniment. There are certain criteria that must be met for this time to be considered “Wait time – On duty” (click here to read ACL 16-01, starting on pg. 14).

IHSS clients who already have medical accompaniment hours should be assessed for medical wait time by their county social worker. If your client has not been notified about their medical wait time hours, contact the social worker directly to request an assessment.

Wait time, once authorized, will be paid retroactive to February 1, 2016.

Note: it is the obligation of the social worker to contact your client’s physicians get the necessary information for this assessment, NOT you or your client. Contact your local UDW office if you are experiencing trouble with this process.

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has made changes to IHSS program rules related to the 2016 implementation of overtime, travel time, and medical wait time. Some of these rules affect the way we complete our IHSS timesheets. We advise all providers to be aware of the following dates and required forms.

MARCH 15, 2016

CDSS mailed several informational notices and forms to IHSS providers and recipients. March 15, 2016, is the date by which your client must review, complete, and postmark IHSS form SOC 2256 – the In-Home Supportive Services Program Recipient and Provider Workweek Agreement. Note: this is only for clients who have more than IHSS provider.

APRIL 15, 2016

The updated In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program Provider Enrollment Agreement (SOC 846) now includes information on overtime and travel time. All providers must review, sign, and return the SOC 846 to your local county office. SOC 846 can be found here.

While the State recently announced that providers who do not return the form by April 15th will no longer be terminated from the IHSS program, it is still a required form so please turn it in as soon as possible.

In addition to SOC 846, the following form must be completed and returned if it applies to you:

• In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program Provider Workweek & Travel Time Agreement (SOC 2255) – If you have more than one IHSS client, you must review, complete, and return this form to your local county office by April 15th. Providers who qualify for travel time will not receive a travel time claim form until this form is returned.

MAY 1, 2016

Beginning May 1st, IHSS providers who complete their timesheets incorrectly will receive violations. After two warning violations, providers who receive a third violation will be suspended for three months, and providers who receive a fourth violation will be terminated from the program for one year.

Violations will be harmful to providers and our clients. Because of this, all providers are encouraged to avoid them by learning the new program rules. You can do this by:

• Attending a timesheet training. Contact your local UDW office to learn more;
• Visiting udwa.org/timesheets for information on how you, your clients, and your timesheets will be affected by the IHSS program changes;
• Liking UDW on Facebook to see our IHSS Tips of the Day;
• And calling the UDW Member Benefits Center at 1-800-621-5016 with IHSS program and timesheet questions.

Beginning February 1, 2016, IHSS providers who travel between more than one client in the same day will be eligible to be paid for the time spent traveling between the two clients, up to seven hours per workweek.

Travel time does not include the time it takes a provider to travel from his or her own home to the location where he or she provides services for a recipient or back home after the work is completed. The provider will get paid for actual travel time regardless of the method of travel used (driving a car, taking public transit, walking, riding a bicycle). The cost of the travel (gas, bus fare, etc.) is not paid.

Providers are responsible for keeping track of their travel time each week and reporting it on the travel claim form. The maximum amount of time a provider can be paid for travel is 7 hours per week. Reporting more than 7 hours a week in travel time will result in a program violation. Travel time does NOT count towards a provider’s maximum weekly hours.

If you have more than one IHSS client, you must review, complete, and return the SOC 2255 form to your local county office by April 15th. Providers who qualify for travel time will not receive a travel time claim form until this form is returned.