Free Essay

A Movement That Could Affect More Than a Paycheck

In:

Submitted By jadepm5k
Words 1115
Pages 5
In a recent article of The Wall Street Journal entitled Regulators Boost Wages, Overtime for Health Aides, it describes how the Labor Department has extended minimum-wage and overtime pays to nearly two million workers in the home health-care industry that will take effect January 1, 2015. In an industry that is known for working lengthy hours to satisfy the needs of our elderly population, this is finally a step in the right direction. In this country, home health-care has been lumped into the same category as teenage babysitters when it comes to how much they make and before this movement for overtime rates, these workers could work more than 40 hours a week and never qualify to get paid time-and-a-half for their extra hours. According to the president of the Service Employees, Mary Kay Henry, “The Obama administration has made good on its promise” to extend wage and overtime benefits to health care work; this is a promise that seems to be very much overdue in the United States. Caring for the elderly and making it possible for them to stay in their homes as long as they are able should be more of a priority in this country; however, to be able to do this we need to have an adequate amount of staff to be able to accomplish this. Not only do we need ample staff members, we need these people to be properly trained. I feel it is a shame that we are attaching such a low price tag on the people that are taking care of our elderly and aging population. Labor Secretary Tom Perez is in complete approval with this bill, stating that it is wrong and unfair that these workers have been excluded for nearly 40 years because of an exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act. He goes on to say that he hopes receiving “fair” wages will further stabilize and professionalize these group of health care workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has gone as far as stating that they have concerns that the ruling would make home health care unaffordable for many. Additionally, there are many businesses that are opposed to this movement; these businesses complain that they are already struggling to make money and if they have to pay their employees even more than they already do that both the clients and workers will be the ones to suffer. They claim that they will have to charge clients more for the services that they are providing and in turn they will have to hire more part-time workers that will be less qualified to do the job; caregivers will in the end receive less pay. A man by the name of Michael Juceam, who owns a Right at Home franchise in Sarasota, FL that provides home-health aides to elderly clients think that this rule will harm his business and ultimately his clients care. He has already admitted that when the rule goes into action he will more than likely have to hire additional worker with less experience to cover shifts so he can avoid overtime and for round-the-clock care he will have to use six aides instead of four. Is this a man that is trying to cut cost or cut corners? Within the last year, I have had to work with the home health care staff in my own town when my Grandmother fell ill; I was able to get to know some of the aides on a personal basis and learned what they have to go through on a day-to-day basis. These people have to have an excellent attitude to just get through the day doing this job, but in return they get a sense of job satisfaction that they would not be able to get in a different position. Most of the ladies that I got to know had a strong organization commitment to their company, as they believed in the company’s primary mission and embraced it when working with their clients. A person-job fit is important in the home health care field, because if you are not satisfied with your position you won’t be giving the best care that the client needs and with a lot of elderly people, you are the only person they could be seeing all week. Sometimes their health and well-being is completely dependent on the staff that they have coming into their home. After reading this article, I have many mixed emotions; I feel that the people that take care of grandparents, parents, and someday ourselves should be compensated more than they are currently. I understand that nursing homes and home health care businesses are paid usually by Medicaid or the family of their clients; I also realize that they probably aren’t getting paid what they should be. Why is our country not looking out for our aging population? Why do people that work retail qualify for overtime and not the people that are actually taking care of other human beings? Maybe our country needs to reevaluate, as a whole, how we are caring for our older generations, because eventually most all of us will be there and most all of us will need a little help. Throughout the research I’ve done for this paper I have come to realize that the way our country works in some aspects is backwards. Basically, how I see it is that our priorities are all out of order. Our elderly population is the reason for our existence, so why would we not want to pay the individuals who take care of them when we cannot what they deserve? When hiring a home health care aid you should be looking for someone who would care for your loved one the way you know they deserve; the way they would care for you. A friend of mine works in a similar field and she expresses quite often how attached she is to her individuals, so it would only stand to reason that home health care aids would also become attached to the people they care for. We shouldn’t be making these workers feel as though they are nothing more than a babysitter for our elderly, when more often than not; they are the only life line for them. Their ability to save a live alone should be worth more than a retail clerk standing at a desk selling designer jeans.

Works Cited

Ebert, Robert J and Ricky W Griffin. Business Essentials. Ninth. Boston: Pearson, 2013.
Trottman, Melanie and Kris Maher. "The Wall Street Journal." Regulators Boost Wages, Overtime for Health Aides 18 September 2013: A1-A2.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Walmart

...succinct, sometimes argumentative, fashion by rebuking specific attacks on the way in which they conduct business. Within their own writing styles, each author expresses different points of views regarding Wal-Mart’s healthcare policies, compensation plans, and its effects upon the communities and economies in which it operates. Many people are under the impression that employers are responsible for the healthcare cost of their employees. Mallaby argues that Wal-Mart improves access to healthcare by raising the real incomes of people who are its customers. Furthermore, the size of Wal-Mart allows it to influence prices throughout the retail industry. This, in turn affects all consumers within an economy. Regardless of where they shop, people are able to afford healthcare more easily than they otherwise could. In response to this stance, critics of Wal-Mart complain that...

Words: 1279 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Tax Reform Paper

...provided by government. Americans will pay trillions in taxes. Beyond funding government, the federal tax system has profound effects on the economy as a whole and on individual taxpayers, both for today and tomorrow. Taxes change people’s behavior and influence the economy by altering incentives to work, consume, save and invest. This affects economic growth and future income, therefore, future government revenues. In this paper I will highlight the pros and cons of flat tax, national sales tax, and the current tax system. Flat Tax Simplicity is considered a significant benefit of the flat tax system. One tax rate makes for easy calculation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and straight forward payments from taxpayers. Because the flat tax taxes only one income, it is easier to understand and to report. The flat tax remains a popular idea in part because it eliminates double taxation. It eliminates the death tax, capital gains tax and taxation of savings and dividends. Fairness remains a popular feature of the flat tax. A taxpayer who makes $5000 pays the same tax rate as someone who earns $500,000. The taxpayer who makes more pays more taxes simply because their income is greater. It does not discriminate based on income; everyone pays the same percent. Some of the cons of the flat tax are that the system penalizes the low-income portion of the population. For example, if the tax rate were 10 percent, then someone making $1,000 would have $900 spending income...

Words: 1697 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Poverty and Race

...look at the American work field, they would notice the differences in positions acquired by African-Americans and Caucasians. African-Americans typically work minimum-wage jobs, living paycheck to paycheck and if they are fortunate enough to acquire an adequate paying job; their employers are Caucasians who usually own the major businesses and corporations. This inevitable conflict has emerged from America’s past history of unfair and unequal treatment of people of color. The American society has not completely eradicated the problem with racial discrimination and inequality within the workforce which has created the growing wealth gap. In the United States, issues of race and class are tied to together like a chain of DNA; one cannot address the issue of class without referring to the demographics of race. The methodology of determining the variations in social class was established in the mid-1960s and has not changed in the most latter years. Within the time span, there have been many studies conducted that reveals the bases of how the American society classifies people into social groups with race being a significant determinant for their results. Figures suggest that the United States has a problem with the intersection of race and class being that U.S. social classes are more segregated than it is integrated which descends the disproportionate poverty level among people of...

Words: 1586 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Women and Sexual Orientation

...Women and Sexual Orientation For millennia there has existed no single group of individuals more discriminated against, nor marginalized in civil or basic human rights, in politics, economics or domestically, than women. Notwithstanding the Women’s Right Movement, this percentage of the United States populace has continued to be sidelined by the patriarchal notions of the past. Likewise, the consensus views of society concerning Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered individuals (GLBT), historically has been that of derision and malice, viewing those individuals of this community as an abomination against all morals and ethics, usually using religious scriptures to back up these claims. Within the last couple decades, headway has been made to provide these two minority groups equal rights as established by Federal and State laws, but let us look at the history of these movements within the United States. The traditional role of women, as maintained by archaic and patriarchal views is that of a housewife. Her duty is to be subordinate to her husband in all things, providing him with offspring, raising them, and generally be a homemaker, supporting him emotionally, but making no decisions without his say so. If she were blessed enough to have a husband who respected her, she might be able to find a part-time job outside of the home, in order to supplement his paycheck. Most employment opportunities, until recently was that of a supporting role, such as a seamstress...

Words: 1478 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

How Did The 19th Amendment Change American Culture

...women to vote in America. This occurred due to an extensive period on the war for women’s rights. Women’s rights to vote completely changed the culture of America because it linked the population of women together and took the U.S. by storm, although some may say it didn’t affect culture because not many people were injured in the war for women’s rights, it is still one of the most culturally changing event in history. The women that started the fight for the right to vote in the United States of America were Anne Hutchington and Abigail Adams. Anne settled in Massachusetts with her family in 1634 and started to raise the issue of women’s rights in her colony. After gaining many followers she was banished from...

Words: 1653 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Gender Pay Gap

... Abstract The purpose of this research assignment is to identify the causes of the gender wage gap and how to combat them using compensation strategies. Currently women make less than men for doing equally comparable work in many industries. In order to design a fair and transparent structure we can follow a pay for performance pay structure. This incorporates values that are important to a companies HR strategy and business strategy that untimely reflect the business to the public and possible talent. In today’s market, organizations are facing a gender pay gap issue. Currently women in the labor market can make less than a man for a number of different reasons. Through research and investigation we determine how we got into the situation we are in today, concerning demographics and historical changes; and what actions we take from here to ensure equality within the workforce across each gender concerning pay structure. The demographics of today’s workforce are significantly different than those of the early 1920’s. Our massive industrial boom caused the need for employees to skyrocket. The products that came into the market made everyday life easier such as radios and the finely tuned automobile. However, at this time, women were often contributors to other industries where they could use their knowledge of household items and techniques. The United States Department Of Labor states, “Prior to World War I, of all women employed in the manufacturing industries, three-fourths...

Words: 3020 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Overspent American

...In 1996 a best-selling book entitled The Millionaire Next Door caused a minor sensation. In contrast to the popular perception of millionaire lifestyles, this book reveals that most millionaires live frugal lives--buying used cars, purchasing their suits at JC Penney, and shopping for bargains. These very wealthy people feel no need to let the world know they can afford to live much better than their neighbors. Millions of other Americans, on the other hand, have a different relationship with spending. What they acquire and own is tightly bound to their personal identity. Driving a certain type of car, wearing particular designer labels, living in a certain kind of home, and ordering the right bottle of wine create and support a particular image of themselves to present to the world. This is not to say that most Americans make consumer purchases solely to fool others about who they really are. It is not to say that we are a nation of crass status-seekers. Or that people who purchase more than they need are simply demonstrating a base materialism, in the sense of valuing material possessions above all else. But it is to say that, unlike the millionaires next door, who are not driven to use their wealth to create an attractive image of themselves, many of us are continually comparing our own lifestyle and possessions to those of a select group of people we respect and want to be like, people whose sense of what's important in life seems close to our own. ...

Words: 7492 - Pages: 30

Premium Essay

For Love of Money

...For the Love of Money In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted. Eight years earlier, I’d walked onto the trading floor at Credit Suisse First Boston to begin my summer internship. I already knew I wanted to be rich, but when I started out I had a different idea about what wealth meant. I’d come to Wall Street after reading in the book “Liar’s Poker” how Michael Lewis earned a $225,000 bonus after just two years of work on a trading floor. That seemed like a fortune. Every January and February, I think about that time, because these are the months when bonuses are decided and distributed, when fortunes are made. I’d learned about the importance of being rich from my dad. He was a modern-day Willy Loman, a salesman with huge dreams that never seemed to materialize. “Imagine what life will be like,” he’d say, “when I make a million dollars.” While he dreamed of selling a screenplay, in reality he sold kitchen cabinets. And not that well. We sometimes lived paycheck to paycheck off my mom’s nurse-practitioner salary. Dad believed money would solve all his problems. At 22, so did I. When I walked onto that trading floor for the first time and saw the glowing flat-screen TVs, high-tech computer monitors and phone...

Words: 2510 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Should Public Sector Employees Be Allowed to Strike

...Brett Kim Paper 1 Professor Jack McGrory PA 530 5/23/2015 The Need to Strike Introduction The pubic sector in this country is currently under attack. Wages are stagnating, and benefit plans are getting slashed. It used to be a wide known fact that public sectors employees earn less than private sector employees, but in the public sector you earn better benefits and have better job security. This is no longer the case as Republican led legislators are fighting to cut public sector benefits and the right of public sector employees to collectively bargain. Public sector unions are still very strong, and the union members need to trust these unions to bargain for them. To put the union topic in perspective, back in 1974, most of the biggest unions--except for the National Education Association--were private-sector unions. However, by 2007, most of the biggest unions were public-sector union. Second, both the biggest union in 2007 (the NEA) and the fifth-biggest union in 2007 (the UFCW) were substantially larger than the first- and fifth-biggest unions in 1974. This trend has shifted as we see almost no private sector unions, and the ones in the public sector constantly under attack. Throughout this paper, I will argue for the need for public sector employees to be allowed to strike as part of the negotiation process. I will also go over the history of collectively bargaining laws, how they apply to the public sector, and talk about unions in general throughout the process...

Words: 4435 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Does Leadership Exist in Management

...autocratic (authoritarian), participative (democratic), transactional, and transformational. Laissez-faire leadership, when translated, means leave do or hands off. This form of leadership allows subordinates more freedoms to complete their tasks. The employees make decisions instead of the managers. Autocratic or authoritarian leadership is a type of leadership where a leader acts as the dictator. All decision will come from the leader with little to no input from subordinates. Autocratic leadership is highly effective. These leaders are highly motivated, knowledgeable, and feel fulfilled when they achieve something on their own. Participative or democratic leadership involves cooperation by all members of a group or team to get things done. This type of leadership allows leaders to work closer and together with their subordinates. Advantages of participative leadership are organized into four groups are; acceptance, morale, creativity, and retention. Subordinates are likely to be accepting of decisions that are decided by general consensus. Staff morale is generally at a high level because there is an appreciation in being a part of the company decision making process. By encouraging employees to give their opinions and suggestions you get more creativity than...

Words: 5883 - Pages: 24

Premium Essay

Obesity

...health issues explained before. This research will focus on the hazards of child and teen obesity and how it became a concern through out the United States. Research has shown Child and teen obesity in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. (American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry). While, Obesity is known to be easiest medical conditions to recognize it is still most difficult to treat.  Unhealthy weight gain due to poor diet and lack of exercise is responsible for over 300,000 deaths each year and annual cost to society for obesity is estimated at nearly $100 billion (American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry). Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise (American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry). Due to the increase in percentage of children with obesity and money being spent to maintain a healthier diet proves that child obesity in increasing and becoming an over all concern through out the United States. It is already discussed that the causes of obesity are complex and include genetic, biological, behavioral and cultural factors. As stated before,...

Words: 1897 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

The Bolshevik Revolution

...fallout of the Bolshevik Revolution still impacts Russia and the rest of the world today. There was no singular cause or event that sparked the Bolsheviks to take to arms in 1917, instead the action resulted from the culmination of a history of social, political, and economic issues. Prior to the Bolsheviks’ rise to power in October 1917, there were two Revolutions that set the stage for the Soviet takeover. The First was the revolution of 1905. This revolution resulted in Russia transitioning from a strict feudal system to a constitutional monarchy; the power of the Tsar was limited and new political framework began to usurp the old Russian system. In light of the Revolution that would take place later, in October 1917, two important movements originated following the Revolution of 1905. The first was the nature of the Revolution. Vladimir Lenin remarked that 1905 was a dress rehearsal for October 1917, and he was correct for the most part. “The 1905 Revolution did...

Words: 3331 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Whole Foods Strategy Analysis

...Whole Foods’ market strategy is built upon their fundamental differentiation from conventional supermarkets. We strive to meet our strategy by working under the motto of Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet. At Whole Foods we use a focused differentiation strategy to offer unique products to our customers in a narrowed market. We focus on selling high quality organic and healthy foods that our customers can feel comfortable eating at a higher price. Whole Foods’ competitors include Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Fresh Market. These three competitors operate under different strategies to set themselves apart in the grocery market. Kroger operates under the cost leadership strategy. They set the floor price in the market that still allows them to earn a profit. They achieve this by cutting back on advertising, research costs, and production costs to increase the scale of operation. Also, Kroger offers coupons and a Kroger card to add discounts to already low prices. Whole Foods does not focus on low prices like Kroger because doing so would take away from the high end feeling it markets to its customers. Next, Fresh Market operates under the broad differentiation strategy in the grocery market. They offer unique products that a wide range of buyers will find appealing. Fresh Market differentiates themselves by selling the freshest products from local and global vendors. Fresh market is not interested in entering the narrowed market of organic foods that Whole Foods operates in. This...

Words: 2884 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Workforce 2020 Executive Report

...Lawrence Carroll Workforce 2020 Executive Report Module 5 Assignment 2 Perspectives in Change Leadership B6027 Argosy University Fiserv, Inc. (Fiserv) is a worldwide organization that gives monetary administrations innovation to more than fourteen thousand five hundred customers that incorporates all kinds of financial institutions. The organization was established in 1984 and is as of now driven by Jeff Yabuki from Brookfield, Wisconsin. Fiserv's main goal is to give incorporated innovation and administrations arrangements that empower excellent results for their customers. The organization brags one-hundred and forty six areas around the world, utilizes more than twenty-one thousand partners, and produced over five billion in income in 2014 (Fiserv, n.d.). This year, Fiserv is perceived by Fortune Magazine as one of the "World's Most Admired Companies 2015" and Forbes as one of "America's Best Employers 2015" (Fiserv, n.d.). Fiserv is a business pioneer of data administration and computerized business frameworks and gives incorporated innovation that makes both esteem and results for their customers and conveys the accompanying: * Payment Solutions to streamline parts of installments making effectiveness and compelling development * Processing answers that oversee record based exchanges dependably and safely * Risk and Compliance answers for avoid and moderate danger * Customer and Channel Management answers for pull in, hold, and develop client relations...

Words: 4040 - Pages: 17

Free Essay

Leadership & Org Behavior Project

...Graduate School of Management at DeVry MGMT-591-20618 Leadership & Org Behavior Professor Joseph Neptune February 22, 2015 Abstract The organization discussed in this work of literature is Cuba Memorial Hospital, located in Cuba, NY. Cuba Memorial Hospital is named as a Critical Access Hospital through a federally supported program. This allows the hospital to choose which services best meet the needs of the community with 50+ employees. Cuba Memorial provides mostly long-term care treatment as the main bulk of their income. Like many other hospitals, Cuba Memorial Hospital (Cuba Memorial Hospital) went thru a significant downturn around 2008 due to fraud and theft of education funding and much more. Not only do they lose funding, but also they also almost get shutdown every six months due to not meeting regulations in controlling heat and air-conditioning, as well as having asbestos in the pipes, and a lack of food as they have maxed out their credits with many companies. It has been a roller coaster for many years. The main contributor for many issues among the organization is lack of morale and ethics within the company and this contribute to a very high turnover rate overall. Employees are not very good as well due to the lack of appreciation of everyone’s hard work, very low pay for nurses and nursing assistants, as well as the need to work long hours because the people always call in. There are no incentive and are lucky to get...

Words: 2756 - Pages: 12