Home Care Workers and Clients continue to win wage increases, stronger benefits, access to training, and structures to build a better informed workforce. We are fighting to make home care the future of healthcare in Minnesota and across the US, where people with disabilities and elders can direct their own care in their own home and care workers can afford to live stable and comfortable lives.

Unfortunately, as we fight for progress, we also continue to see some home care agencies in the PCA program seek to exploit the lack of information many of us face in home care. Many Clients and Caregivers are at risk of losing pay and benefits because we often don’t know where to go for accurate information about our wages, benefits, and programming, so we simply ask our agency. Some agencies cannot be relied on to provide accurate information, as they look out for their private business interests instead of what’s best for Clients and Caregivers.

Beware the Switch

Every time we’ve had new wage and benefit increases go through, we’ve seen some agencies try to move Clients and their caregivers from PCA Choice to traditional PCA to avoid paying the new standards. These attempts often come with little to no information about how the switch will impact wages, benefits, or access to free classes and training stipends, and will sometimes come packaged with confusing or misleading information about changes to the PCA program at the state level. Recently, we’ve seen a few agencies even offer a small ($0.25/hour) wage increase or a one-time conditional bonus to workers who help convince their Clients to move to traditional PCA, without mentioning that those workers would lose their right to a $3+/hour wage increase in January, along with several other bonuses, stipends, access to free training, and Union protection.

Why Would My Agency Want to Switch Me?

Simply put: Money. The state pays home care agencies the same amount whether they pay you the Union standard or not (see the Reimbursement Rate section below). They can make more money if you leave your Union protection behind, because they can pay you a lot less and take away your benefits at any time without consequence.

What to Watch For

If your agency attempts to move you and/or your Client to traditional PCA, make sure you and your Client are making informed decisions about what’s best for you. Ask questions. Reach out to us for advice.

Common themes to watch out for are:

• Be cautious if a home care agency offers you a financial incentive (cash bonus, wage increase, etc) to make a program change

• Be cautious of phrases such as,

  • “Changes are coming to the PCA program, but nothing will change for you if you just…”

    • It’s likely that the ‘change’ would be a big wage increase guaranteed by your Union contract if you don’t switch.

  • “We need to update your paperwork, so just sign and send back to us…”

    • Make sure that the paperwork doesn’t make changes to your agreement before you sign anything.

  • “The state doesn’t pay us for PTO, Holidays, etc…”

    • The state reimbursement rate is meant to cover wages, benefits, and overhead. There is not supposed to be a separate reimbursement rate for benefits.

  • “DHS is making us…”

    • Any required program changes will be communicated during the yearly assessment process, not just in a letter from a home care agency.

PCA Choice vs. Traditional PCA

Same Reimbursement Rate

In both PCA Choice and traditional PCA, workers and Clients use a PCA agency to process timesheets and payroll. When you submit your timesheets at the end of a pay period, your PCA agency reports those hours to the State for reimbursement.

Regardless of whether they are Choice or traditional, this is what your PCA agency is reimbursed for every hour you work:

• $19.60/hour as of 10/01/2021
• $23.80/hour on 01/01/2024
• $24.84 - 27.52/hour on 01/01/2025

What’s the Difference?

Why Be A Union/Choice PCA?

• Wages

  • January 1, 2024

    • Union wages increase to AT LEAST $19/hour
    • Enhanced Rate PCAs should see wages increase to about $20.42/hour, unless you’ve discussed other enhanced benefits with your agency

  • January 1, 2025

    • Union wages for new workers increase to AT LEAST $20/hour
    • Wages for existing workers in PCA Choice and CFSS Budget Model are based on the number of PCA hours worked since July 1, 2017, as shown on the wage scale below
    • 
    • As you work, your wages will increase as you meet each new step on the wage scale
    • Enhanced Rate PCAs in PCA Choice and CFSS Budget Model should see wages roughly 7.5% above the listed wage, unless you’ve discussed other enhanced benefits with your agency

• Paid Time Off (PTO)

  • Union workers earn at least 1 hour of PTO for every 30 hours worked, and carry up to 80 hours of PTO from year to year

• Holiday Pay

  • Union workers earn time-and-a-half for all hours worked on these days:

    • New Years Day
    • Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
    • Memorial Day
    • Juneteenth
    • Independence Day
    • Labor Day
    • Veterans Day
    • Thanksgiving

• $500 Training Stipend + Free Classes

  • Union workers have access to free training, and a $500 stipend for completion at least every two years. This includes the training required to qualify for the Enhanced Rate.
  • Traditional PCAs must pay out of pocket for the same training

• $1,000 Recruitment & Retention Bonus

  • Union workers are eligible for a $1,000 bonus when they’ve worked as a Union/Choice PCA for at least six (6) months

• $200 Electronic Visit Verification Stipend

  • Union workers are eligible for a $200 stipend to offset any costs of meeting your agency’s EVV requirements

What You Can Do

Workers (PCAs, Family Caregivers, etc)

Ultimately, it’s your Client’s decision which program best meets their care needs. These decisions should be based solely on what is best for the Client and their access to care, not on what’s best for the home care agency and also not just on what’s best for us as the caregiver.

You can discuss with them how leaving PCA Choice would impact your wages, benefits, access to training, and worker protections, and make sure they fully understand the impact of the change they’re being asked to make. If they’re open to it, you can help them find alternative options that can allow everyone’s needs to be met (see the resources in the Client section below).

Just as the Client decides which agency and program to use, you ultimately decide where to invest your time and labor. It is an incredibly hard position to be put in to feel that you need to choose between the person you care for and your ability to pay your bills and live comfortably. As caregivers, we’ve become accustomed to self-sacrifice - some even pride themselves on it. But that is what has allowed our work to be devalued and exploited for so long, and in the end it hurts us, our families, and the people we care for.

There are so many people who desperately need care in our state. People who are on the verge of being forced into an institution and losing everything they’ve fought and worked for in their lives. You can have a career as a home care worker and demand a living wage for your work. If you’re looking for options, please reach out to us here: Discuss PCA Program Change Questions

Clients

No matter what the home care agency says, you do not have to make an immediate decision about changing your care model. It’s so important that you have access to information on all of your options, and a full understanding of how your decisions affect your care, and the lives of your caregivers.

Before you make any decisions, take these steps:

• Reach out to your case manager to verify any claims the agency has made
• Talk to your workers about what the agency has said to them, or if they’ve been offered anything to encourage you to switch

If you’d like to discuss your options with a Union representative, please schedule a time to talk with us here: Discuss PCA Program Change Questions