My name is Hope McGinnis. I work as a personal attendant for a disabled person named Shelly. I’ve worked for Shelly for over ten years.

Over the past two or three years, there has been a lot of talk about giving overtime pay to attendants like me. There has been a lot of talk about how overtime pay is going to help raise my standard of living, and about how it is going to attract more people to work as attendants and help people with disabilities.

The law changed back in October to make attendants eligible for overtime. Instead of raising my standard of living, overtime has threatened to drive me out of this job. I make less money now than I did before I was eligible for overtime. Since October, my agency has told me that I am not allowed to work overtime because there is not enough money to pay for overtime. Where I used to work 70 hours a week, now I’m working 40 hours. You try losing nearly half of your pay and tell me what it does to your standard of living.

This rule isn’t just hurting me. It’s hurting Shelly, who I work for. There is a real problem with attendants like me not being paid enough. That problem means that there aren’t enough attendants to meet the needs of people with disabilities living in the community. It means that Shelly isn’t able to recruit additional attendants to fill the hours I was forbidden from working. Shelly’s attendant needs are medically necessary: without them, her health is in danger. Some consumers in Minnesota are getting pressure sores because they can no longer get around-the-clock attendant care. Some attendants are “donating their time” out of loyalty to their consumers. By “donating their time” I mean they are working off the clock because they know that their consumer’s health will suffer and they may die without that care.

Instead of improving the quality of life for attendants, instead of increasing our take-home pay, this rule is making attendants work for free.

The rule isn’t just hurting me. It is adding to an existing shortage of attendants to help people with disabilities. I have friends in Massachusetts who do this work. They are about to have their hours capped at 40 by the Department of Health. Personal attendants in Illinois are not allowed to work more than 40 hours. Without these services, people with disabilities are going to be forced into institutions against their will and at greater cost to the State.

Attendants should be paid more money. The Overtime Rule is taking money away from attendants and hurting the people we serve.

– Hope McGinnis, Activist Attendant