Memo of support for Intro 0175-2022 “No More 24” Bill

The National Organization for Women urges lawmakers to support Intro 0175-2022, a critical bill that will ensure that New York City’s home healthcare workers – some of our most essential workers — work with dignity, safety, and fairness.

The abuses of the home healthcare industry are well documented. Currently, many home healthcare workers in New York are being mandated to take on 24-hour shifts for days on end, which affects not only their health and ability to care for their own families, but also their ability to provide the best-quality care to their patients. Lai Chan, a home healthcare worker who was interviewed in a shocking 2021 report “The Nonprofit War on Workers,” still suffers from insomnia and experiences persistent sleep issues from her time working 24-shifts from 2007 to 2014–so much so that she has now become a patient herself. Lai and another worker, Gui Zhu Chen, also revealed that their agencies would threaten to fire them or send their patients to nursing homes if they asked to be assigned split shifts.

The No More 24 Act (Int 0175-2022) would, in clear and enforceable terms, cap working hours to 12 hours within any 24-hour period and set maximum weekly working time at 50 hours. Introduced by Council Member Christopher Marte, the bill has garnered 29 co-sponsors as of June 27, 2022.

This is an ideal issue for the new majority-women New York City Council to take action on. Numbering at 128,990, the City’s home healthcare workforce is larger than any other occupational grouping in the City. Of those workers, about 93% identify as women, and another more than 70% are immigrants. It is incredibly important to address and improve these appalling working conditions for the people who are helping New Yorkers care for our loved ones.

The National Organization for Women urges the City Council to join us in supporting this measure that will prevent these essential workers from being further exploited by putting clear legal standards into place that will codify the rights that all workers are entitled to.

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