California home care operators oppose union access to personnel info

VA PHOTO

DALY CITY, California— A bill that would allow a public record request by any labor organization before the Department of Social Services to access a current list of over 100,000 registered home care aides’ personal information is now up for signing by Governor Jerry Brown.

Unions seeking to expand could use the information from the online public home care aide registry (created under AB 1217)— for “organizing, representation and assistance activities. “

AB 1513 also paves the way for workers to connect with one another and choose to join a union, share information with unions to access low-cost or free training opportunities, the ability to address labor violations and negotiate for fair wages and benefits.

However, the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH) opposes the bill. The association has about 500 members/employers in over 1,000 locations and more than 100 affiliates in California that provide health, supportive services and products in the homes of the elderly and disabled citizens.

Opposition

Braden Oparowski, director of Policy, Advocacy and Public Affairs at CAHSAH, told INQUIRER.net that AB 1513,  authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, “went through the floor assembly last week, and has reached the governor’s desk Thursday for signing.”

Oparowski said that CAHSAH members were hoping that the Governor would veto the bill amid a strong opposition from various sectors.

The primary purpose of AB 1513, sponsor Kalra said, is to ensure that workers receive adequate training. “I do believe that organized labor provides the best training, “Kalra was quoted as having said.

The bill would go further, requiring that the state “upon request, by a labor organization “provide a worker’s  name, mailing address, telephone number, cellular phone number, and email address,” reported Dan Morain of Sacramento Bee in his July report

Home Care Aide Registry

The creation of Home Care Aide Registry (HCA Registry) under AB 1217 was designed and implemented by the Home Care Services Bureau to ensure that home care clients are receiving care by specially-trained, background-checked and licensed home care providers.

Likewise, AB 1217 was intended to protect a home care aide’s personal information from public access under the home care aide registry.

CAHSAH said that similar to other professional licensing boards in California, the Home Care Aide Registry is designed to permit the public to check if the home care aide is registered and affiliated with the home care organization they are using for their care.

“There are other ways for these labor organizations to advertise their services, such as online ads, print and electronic media… that would not disclose and reveal the personal information of caregivers,” CAHSAH said in an opposition letter.

According to the group, the Department of Social Services has received approval from the legislature to increase licensure and renewal fees for home care aide organizations and aides, to meet existing demands of home care licensure as prescribed in AB 1217.

“If the Department does not have the resources to meet current statue, how can the Department be expected to meet the demands of this bill?” CAHSAH has stated.

CAHSAH further said: “An opt-out provision is not sufficient to protect a home care aide’s private information. If a home care aide wants to make their information available, the aide should be required to opt-in to allow that disclosure. It is unclear how this would work for the over 100,000 home care aides who have applied to be a registered HCA.”

AB 1513 requires that a letter be mailed to all registered aides to give them the opportunity to opt-out.

“If the aide does not receive this letter, are they automatically considered to have opted-in? This bill goes against California’s best practices of securing an individual’s personal information,” according to CAHSA.

California statute, Civil Code Section 1798,24 already protects personal information from being disclosed by any state agency through a public record’s request.

Inconsistent with AB 1513, Democratic legislators reportedly approved a bill last month declaring that “the  home addresses, home telephone numbers, personal cellular telephone numbers, and birth dates” of public employees are not public records, definitely not open to public inspection.

Reports further said that in the same legislative session, some Democratic legislators cited the California constitutional amendment protecting people’s rights to privacy as they pushed bills seeking to limit the reach of internet giants into individuals’ personal information without their consent. Critics said that AB 1513, goes in a different direction.