According to the federal law, not that much – a law upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday:

The nation’s home healthcare aides are not entitled to minimum wages or overtime pay under federal law, even if they work for private employers, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 9-0 decision, which keeps in place a long-standing rule that denies minimum wages and overtime pay to those who provide “companionship services” at home, could trigger a move in Congress to amend the law.

With an estimated 1 million workers assisting the elderly and the disabled in their homes, unions and civil rights groups had urged the justices to scrap the rule; they say it deprives many of the nation’s lowest-paid workers of a living wage.

They say a large percentage of these aides are women and minorities who often work all-night shifts. Yet, under federal labor law, they are viewed the same as part-time baby sitters.

So with Medicare/Medicaid getting tighter on paying for nursing homes or assisted living communities, we are expected to turn the care of our loved ones over to people making slave wages?

Yes this law needs to be changed. The companies that employ these workers get government money and that money should be used to insure their workers are treated the same as others in the nation. Also we have the fact that most of these workers are women and minorities, so this is just another blow to Women’s rights in this country.

Now here is the most ironic part of this. Think of the people doing these jobs as their sole source of income. They are then having to rely on government services to survive. These come from the same funds that pay their salaries. So instead of helping to alleviate the problem, this law is in fact adding to it.

Everyone needs to call their representative and urge them to pass a law remedying this crime against our citizens. The United States of America should not be treating employees this way.