Hard work. Long hours. Paltry wages. Isolation from relatives. Barracks-style housing.
That’s a snapshot of life for thousands of California workers who toil in the elder-care industry, which doesn’t always function well for the clients, either.
The range of experiences is dramatic. Clients of ample means are able to pay for in-home or residential facility care that can easily cost $10,000 to $15,000 a month. Low-income Californians can qualify for limited publicly financed care, which I wrote about last week.
But those who are in the middle are going broke paying for help, and a lot of people are simply going without any care at all.
As for the workers, I’ve been in homes where the caregivers are U.S. citizens with decent wages and benefits, and I’ve been in homes where the workers are undocumented and paid less than the minimum wage ($16.04 an hour in the city of Los Angeles) in cash. It’s a wink-and-nod system, much like farm labor, in which cheap labor is prized over any other consideration.
California is about to be hit by an aging population wave, and Steve Lopez is riding it. His new column will focus on the blessings and burdens of advancing age — and how some folks are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
“It’s very much a legacy of slavery and a history in this country of not valuing the work done by … people of color,” said attorney Yvonne Medrano, who heads the employee rights program at Bet Tzedek Legal Services.
Several...
Judge found FBI affidavit flawed but not enough to return ballots Probe part of Trump administration effort to reexamine 2020 loss Fulton County argued FBI relied on discredited evidence WASHING...