Home healthcare workers say they are being exploited: Working 24-hour shifts in some cases, taking care of patients who are homebound.
“When people come to the office and they talk about, ‘you know. All night I can’t sleep. I have to be up with the patient. The patient is in critical care. But I have to be up and I am ill also.’ Who’s benefiting from that? No one,” said State Seantor Roxanne Persaud.
“This is a social justice issue. It’s an economic justice issue. Workers are being paid on average $25,000 a year and we know in a city like New York that is not a living wage. That is not something that is sustainable,” said State Assembly member Harvey Epstein.
Lawmakers have now introduced legislation to end 24-hour shifts and require a maximum of 12 hours split between two workers.
Each worker would then also be limited to working no more than 50 hours a week.
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