For years, home care agencies in New York City have forced thousands of workers, mostly immigrant women of color, to work 24-hour shifts. Worker tell us they've been forced to work 6 days straight for years, sometimes even having to work for months at a time without rest! These brutal shifts destroy workers' physical and mental health, and the days away from home destroy their family lives. Having to work without rest also reduces the quality of care provided to vulnerable patients!
Elsewhere in the state, patients requiring round-the-clock care have their cases split by 2 or even 3 workers who each work 12- or 8-hour shifts. It is only in New York City, with its large immigrant underclass, that we find this proliferation of violent 24-hour shifts.
This March, home care workers went on hunger strike outside City Hall to demand an end to 24-hour workdays.
The No More 24 Act caps home care worker shifts at 12 hours, protecting workers' health and ensuring a more sustainable home care industry. By ending grueling 24-hour shift assignments, the city would make home care industry jobs more desirable for prospective workers, and provide better care for patients.