By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post
The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services is asking the U.S. Department of Labor to exempt Kansans who receive home-based care services from a new labor law concerning overtime pay for personal care attendants.
Hays native and KDADS Acting Secretary Kari Bruffett was in Hays recently as she and her colleagues toured Northwest Kansas.
Bruffett told Hays Post the law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, requires personal aides working more than one job to receive overtime pay if the hours worked equal more than 40 hours a week.
Bruffett said the law will negatively affect the elderly and people with disabilities who “self direct” their home-based care and hire more than one attendant for different shifts, as well as limit the choices of personal care workers who want to work more than one job.
“A direct support worker or personal care attendant may work for two different people and may work 20 hours for one person and 24 hours for another person,” Bruffett said. “Before (the law), they got paid a wage which was above the minimum wage, but none of those wages were overtime because they were working for two separate employers.
“However, the way this new rule would be interpreted … whether it is the state or an MCO (managed care organization), they would be considered a joint employer and actually that would be 44 hours of work and (the personal care attendants) would be entitled to overtime and travel between jobs,” Bruffett said.
“The state is very likely, and not just Kansas, to respond to this by saying, ‘You just can’t work overtime anymore” because who would be responsible and how would we keep track of who would pay the overtime … and frankly the costs and implications of availability of care to other people,” Bruffett said, noting there is already a shortage of personal care workers in rural Kansas.
Bruffett said her department’s goal is to find a model that works for Kansas and Kansas consumers and “really respects” people who have self direction.
“Certainly, if the intent of the rule is to protect workers and ensure they have protection in the workplace, we understand that,” Bruffett said. “We think we can achieve that goal without disrupting the entire system of care.”
In the meantime, Bruffett encouraged those affected by the new law to contact the U.S Department of Labor at (866) 487-9273 to voice their opinion on the new labor rules.