As reported in the L.A. Daily Journal by Gina Keating last week, in a recent preliminary hearing, the foundation’s lawyers raised the issue of who is a county employee: They contended that classifying home health-care workers as county employees is illegal, since the county doesn‘t hire, fire or supervise the workers and carries no legal responsibility for their performance. (The county does process their time sheets.) The foundation lawyers are expected to ask next month that the court stop Local 434b from collecting any dues until the case is resolved.Some county officials fear that the case’s resolution could somehow result in the workers being put on the county payroll at the cost of millions per year while the county already faces a 3-year, $360-million health services deficit. The board has consistently opposed a 2-year-old state guideline a that would raise the pay of health-care workers, most of whom are part-timers, from the current $6.75 an hour to more than $11 an hour.
Source: Break Time | L.A. Weekly