Supreme Court to Home Health Workers: Fuck You

In one of several business-friendly decisions handed down today, The Supremes (by a shocking 9-0 vote) ruled that home health care workers are NOT entitled to minimum wage or overtime protections.

The court held that current law doesn't provide for it. The US Fair Labor Standards Act is the controlling law here, and I guess that the Supremes are right, since techincally "domestic service workers" are not covered (remember, the Act was passed in 1938, back in the day when most of the upper crust had servants and didn't want them getting uppity).

BUT...it's just a law. It's not part of the Constitution, and therefore it is easily amended.

The next step is for the Dems to bring it up in Congress. It's something that needs to be done. The companies that hire these people for home health care charge the recipients of the care $20 an hour or more, and they pay their workers shit.

Since many of the home health care workers are women and minorities, it's also an equity issue. Let's bring them up to the same minimum wage and hour standards that we provide for nearly everyone else in this country.

And special kudos to the Service Employees Internation Union, who had the balls to bring this suit in the beginning.