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Assembly Bill 2455 Signed into Law
We learned over the weekend that despite the significant amount of advocacy on the part of many organizations (including CAHSAH) and home care aides, Governor Jerry Brown has signed AB 2455 (Kalra) into law and it will be effective on July 1, 2019.
This bill was vehemently opposed because it infringes on the privacy of home care aides by requiring the Department of Social Services, Home Care Services Bureau to release a current list of all registered home care aides, including their personal telephone number, for the sole purpose of allowing labor unions to organize home care aides.
July 2019 is just around the corner, now is the time to take a pro-active approach to prepare and educate yourself and your home care aides about their options. Please keep a look out for soon future announcements on discussions and workshops on this topic and how to approach it with your organization and staff.
THE MAIN CRUX OF THE BILL
1- Goes into effect July 1, 2019
2- Only HCAs that are signing up for the first time on the Registry or renewing will be given the option to "opt-out" of having their information passed onto a union.
3- The HCSB Department is to create a simple instruction on how the HCA may "opt-out"
4- Primary focus of the union is "dealing with employers of home care aides concerning access to training, grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work."
BELOW IS HIGHLIGHTED TEXT FROM THE BILL
(1) For any new registration or renewal of registration occurring on and after July 1, 2019, the department shall provide an electronic copy of a registered home care aide’s name, telephone number, and cellular telephone number on file with the department, upon its request, to a labor organization in which a provider of in-home supportive services, as described in Article 7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or a registered home care aide, already participates and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers of home care aides concerning access to training, grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. The labor organization shall not use this information for any purpose other than employee organizing, representation, and assistance activities. The labor organization shall not disclose this information to any other party.
(2) The department shall establish a simple opt-out procedure by which a registered home care aide or registered home care aide applicant may request that his or her contact information on file with the department not be disclosed in response to a request described in paragraph (1).
(e) At the time of any registration or renewal of registration occurring on and after July 1, 2019, the department shall do both of the following:
(1) Provide a written notice to the registering or registered home care aide that his or her information may be shared with a labor organization, as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (d).
(2) Provide written instructions on how to utilize the simple opt-out procedure described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d).
(f) This section applies solely to an individual who provides services as a home care aide under this chapter.
