Tell Congress: Home care workers have the right to minimum wage and
overtime pay
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

There are 2.9 million home care workers throughout the United States. [ [link removed] ] 

And on July 2, 2025, the Trump Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL)
put them all at risk by proposing that essential workplace rights and
protections - like earning at least minimum wage and overtime – be
revoked. [ [link removed] ]

This already overworked and undervalued workforce provides much needed
services to aging adults and people with disabilities; denying their right
to labor protections like federal minimum wage and overtime pay would be
more than detrimental. It’s outrageous.

[1]*Care work is real work. Tell Congress that home care workers have a
right to the federal minimum wage and overtime pay.

Health and home care workers are essential; that hasn’t changed. In fact
the need for home care workers is growing. The U.S. population is aging,
and the number of adults aged 65 and older is projected to grow from 57.8
million in 2022 to 88.8 million in 2060. [ [link removed] ] 

This means there is a growing demand for a direct care workforce; one that
is experienced and equipped to assist with tasks such as eating, dressing,
and bathing.

But despite this fast-growing occupation, which is due in part to a
growing population of older adults and the desire to age and receive care
in place, wages for direct care workers are still incredibly low; the
median wage for direct care workers was $16.72 per hour in 2023. [ [link removed] ] 

Low wages among this group lead to high poverty rates; a startling 45
percent of home care workers live in low-income households, and one in six
lives in a household below the federal poverty line. [ [link removed] ] So while home
care workers are caring for us and our loved ones, many often face
challenges and struggle to make ends meet. 

For years, domestic workers and home care worker advocates fought to
ensure all home care workers were covered by minimum wage and overtime
laws…but now the DOL wants to roll back those protections and make it
legal for agencies and households to pay subminimum wages and deny
overtime to home care workers. This is harmful. This is not okay. 

*Your voice is needed to tell Congress: [2]Care work is real work. Home
care workers have a right to the federal minimum wage and overtime pay.

Eliminating home care workers’ right to minimum wage and overtime would
negatively impact home care workers, care recipients, family caregivers,
the care infrastructure, our communities, and our economy. It would
increase the workforce shortage of home care workers and make it even more
difficult to recruit and retain workers. 

[3]*Now is the time! Tell Congress that home care workers have a right to
the federal minimum wage and overtime pay.

The majority of home care workers are women, immigrants and people of
color, the latter of whom make up 63 percent of all home care workers even
though people of color only make up 39 percent of the total U.S. labor
force. [ [link removed] ] Historically, caregiving has been characterized as “women’s
work,” a belief that is entrenched in stereotypes; both gendered and
racialized. Home care workers are often undervalued and underpaid and as
such have fought for decades alongside advocates to secure their civil
rights and labor protections including wage protections, which was hard
won in 2013. 

Stripping the right to minimum wage and overtime pay protections from home
care workers would be an insult to the care workforce, who provide vital
services to our aging loved ones and those with disabilities.

*Please take a moment to take action – and then also to pass along this
action link to other people in your life (and to post the action link on
your social media).

Thanks for your support, 

----Namatie, Ruth, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder
Team

References:
[1,5,6] [4]Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts 2024
[2] [5]Trump’s Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes in a
push to deregulate workplace
[3] [6]2023 Profile of Older Americans 
[4] [ [link removed] ]Understanding the Direct Care Workforce


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