IOWA CITY, Iowa, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A University of Iowa researcher says that as more and more children of the elderly hire home-care workers, these workers are subject to injury.
Peggie Smith, an expert in employment law, says that most home healthcare workers are protected by few of the federal labor standards that other Americans take for granted.
"For the most part, those government agencies responsible for enforcing labor laws, like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, have turned a blind eye to home healthcare workers," says Smith. "The problem the government faces is, how do you regulate the employment relationship of someone who works in a private home?"
Depending on their employers, many home healthcare workers are also exempt from minimum wage, overtime and worker's compensation laws, yet they often work in unsafe conditions.
The greatest hazard to home-care workers stems from client lifting.
"Home-care work is exceedingly dangerous when measured in terms of the injury rate to workers," says Smith. "For example, they experience back injuries at a rate that is nearly three times the rate for nursing aides in hospital or nursing-home settings."
