Health aides miss sick time
42 firms denied workers
A city Department of Consumer Affairs investigation found that 42 home care agencies failed to provide basic paid sick leave to their staffers.
The department’s enforcement staff secured more than $42,000 in restitution for more than 300 workers as part of the broad investigation into the industry that began last summer.
“We want to make it clear to home care agencies across the five boroughs that lack of compliance with the law will not be tolerated,” said DCA Commissioner Lorelei Salas.
The violators include nursing homes and home-care agencies, records show.
Under the measure signed into law by Mayor de Blasio, employers are required to give their staffers at least five paid sick days each year.
The investigation found “pervasive violations” of the paid sick law. Probers also found “significant evidence of minimum wage and overtime violations, including inadequate compensation for 24hour shifts.”
Those overnight tours are common in the industry and many staffers reported they were only paid for 13 hours.
All told, the department settled 21 cases resulting in more than 23,000 in fines. The department also filed 11 cases with the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Those cases are pending.
Additionally, investigators referred two cases of alleged widespread noncompliance to the state’s Attorney General’s Office. Thirteen cases were also sent to other agencies for “possible violations of the wage parity law.”
“Home care aides put their time, patience and dedication into the work they perform each day,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in a statement. “Caring for the loved ones of families throughout the city — many of whom are elderly or living with disabilities — is no easy task, and as elected officials, it is our job to ensure that home aides are treated as fairly as all other employees in New York City.”