Fw: Sign On Letter on the Companionship Exemption

[Guest guest]

----- Forwarded Message ----- To: Undisclosed List Sent: Thursday, March 8, 2012 9:35 PM Subject: Sign On Letter on the Companionship Exemption

FYI below.

Phyllis

Sign On Letter on the Companionship Exemption

Proposed changes to the companionship exemption will have some unintended, but serious, negative consequences for people with disabilities, and even the Department of Labor has recognized that these rules have the potential to promote institutionalization. Labor advocates are aware that the disability community has raised substantive concerns about how these proposed rules will negatively affect people who use attendant services. They are also aware that these rules will hurt attendants who are currently working more than 40 hours a week. (Here's a link to a couple of compelling stories that describe the personal impact that this change will have: http://www.adapt.org/main.pstories) We have reached out to labor advocates to develop a common position that addresses these concerns, but they have made a decision to move forward anyway.

In the words of one labor advocate working on these issues, “We do not want to delay the process of moving the regulations forward, because we believe there is a tiny window of opportunity… if we do not move now, we may miss that window entirelyâ€. Please don’t let people with disabilities and our attendants be considered acceptable collateral damage of this poorly constructed policy change! Even though labor is concerned about their opportunities in the current political environment, the quick and easy way isn’t always the right way. We need policy changes that support our right to live in the most integrated setting AND result in actual money going into attendants’ paychecks, NOT simplistic answers! Even though this is a complex issue, we are making progress. We have been contacted by the White House, and because of our community’s advocacy, disability advocates will be meeting with the administration tomorrow to explain our concerns about the proposed rule. At that meeting, we will press them to set up a meeting with Secretary Solis and the Department of Labor staff who are responsible for these proposed rules.

ADAPT and several other national disability-led organizations have put together a sign-on letter urging Department of Labor Secretary Solis to not adopt final regulations until she has convened a meeting of all interested parties to identify ways to enhance attendant wages and benefits as proposed without potentially eroding the availability of essential long term services and supports. The White House has reached out to us and is setting up a meeting for us to share our concerns this Friday. We hope to use this letter to urge the administration to bring everyone together after the comment period to develop a solution that doesn't sacrifice one oppressed groups needs over another. All organizations are welcome to sign on.

So far, over 50 organizations have signed onto this letter. We are busy typing the list up and will share that shortly. To sign on, email bdarling@.... You can also call at to do this.

Thank you!

Bruce Darling

ADAPT

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Dear Secretary Solis:

The disability community understands the critically important role that attendants play in supporting the daily function and independence of people with disabilities. The need for personal care attendants will grow dramatically as the huge Baby Boomer population ages in the next two decades, living longer and experiencing chronic disabilities and illnesses. We strongly believe, however, that parts of the proposed of Labor’s (DOL) proposed change to the application of current Fair Labor Standards Act companionship exemption for personal care attendants (RIN 1235-AA05) could have serious unintended consequences for recipients of attendant services and attendants themselves if not adequately addressed prior to their implementation. We therefore urge that the Department of Labor not adopt final regulations until it has convened a meeting of all interested parties to identify ways to enhance attendant wages and benefits as proposed without potentially eroding the availability of essential long term services and supports. We ask that you and the DOL staff with responsibility for implementation of this policy participate in that meeting. At that meeting, we would like to discuss how the proposed policy change may negatively impact people with disabilities and, in particular, people who have the most significant disabilities and rely on Medicaid home and community-based services to meet their functional needs and remain independent. According to DOL’s own analysis, some elements of the proposed rules have the potential to increase institutionalization of people with disabilities. We are concerned that this policy change, as proposed, may promote unnecessary and unwanted institutionalization in the following ways: · Increasing the cost of home and community-based services by requiring overtime pay, without increasing the Medicaid rates or raising the Medicaid caps for available funding, could trigger undesired institutionalization as a result of a low income beneficiary’s inability to underwrite additional hours of personal assistance out-of-pocket when Medicaid funding for such support reaches their limits. · Under such Medicaid caps, requiring minimum wage payments for overnight assistance could serve to hasten the exhaustion of such funds for support of low-income beneficiaries and raise expenses that they are not likely to be able to meet themselves. In the absence of available family caregivers, such beneficiaries will be left with the choice of forgoing needed assistance or subjecting themselves to unwanted institutionalization and loss of community connection. · Even if family members or friends could supplant lost income with eligibility for subsidies to provide assistance services for loved ones, the proposed regulations limit their ability to serve as paid attendants in consumer-directed personal assistance programs. This may result in contracting further the available workforce and contributing to the heightened potential of institutional placement and loss of community integration for people with disabilities. Further, we would like to discuss our concerns that: · DOL’s characterization of consumer directed services as “a fringe, unregulated system†is very disturbing, as many of our constituents are dependent on that system and have built tremendous bonds with their attendants. Moreover, we feel that DOL’s analysis fails to adequately assess the impacts that its proposed changes will have on that system and its capacity to provide community-based services and supports essential to people with disabilities going forward. · The minimum wage requirement will make the cost of travel with an attendant prohibitive. This will have a number of negative consequences, e.g. where people must travel long distances for medical and rehabilitative services (as in rural, frontier and tribal communities), often needing to stay overnight; or simply want to visit an infirm or dying relative, or be part of a family reunion. This change will additionally severely restrict the ability of people with disabilities to participate in state and federal committees, commissions and task forces; to testify in person at their state legislatures, etc.; and to otherwise be personally present when decisions and policy about their lives are being made. Finally, we believe that because of the intense pressure on state Medicaid budgets and the determination of policy makers to curtail spending on long term services and supports, attendants may not benefit from the proposed rule. In fact, it may lead to just the reverse absent additional funding from Medicaid programs, which is highly questionable. For attendants who work in Medicaid-funded programs, the proposed regulatory changes could well result in attendants being assigned reduced hours of work, downward pressure on their wages and the obligation to work for multiple placement agencies to sustain their living. We believe these consequences are potential marketplace realities and reinforce the urgent need for the recommended meeting with DOL officials and those representing the disability community prior to any action to finalize these regulations. We agree with the necessity to balance the need for enhanced attendant wages and benefits with the needs of those they serve, i.e., people with disabilities and chronic conditions, as stated in the “Guiding Principles,†positions developed collaboratively between SEIU and disability advocates and endorsed on November 16, 2011. According to that document, “As a general principle, enhancements to workers’ wages and benefits shall be paid for through increased funding†and should not compromise other needed services and supports. Unfortunately, the Department of Labor proposal does not guarantee that such sacrifices will not be an outcome. We greatly look forward to your affirmative reply to our request to meet and work with DOL to determine constructive remedies to our concerns. Bruce Darling with ADAPT, is available to work with your office to schedule the proposed meeting of stakeholders and can be reached at or bdarling@.... Sincerely, ADAPT The Autistic Self Advocacy Network Little People of America The National Council on Independent Living Not Dead Yet United Spinal Association