By now you may have heard that a new labor law was passed just before the close of 2013 that has a direct impact on home care providers in California, like Colonial, and their employees. In the final days of the year home care providers were scrambling to determine the impacts of the changes and adjust their policies and practices accordingly.
What happened? The implementation of overtime for domestic workers. Previously, home care workers were exempt from overtime pay, but now they are required to be paid time and a half for all hours worked beyond 9 in a day or 45 in a week. This change is of particular detriment to those needing 24-hour care, as most companies have increased their costs substantially to cover the additional payroll burden. At Colonial, we took a different approach. We have worked out a 24-hour live-in program that is both compliant with the new laws and more cost effective than any competitor. How? No, we’re not using independent contractors (more on that here), we simply compromised and offset the additional labor costs with reduced margins – made possible by our extremely efficient operations and low administrative overhead.
As other companies struggle to maintain a viable 24-hour live-in program, Colonial is thriving. Indeed, we have seen several companies eliminate the service line or go out of business all together. We invite you to call us for a quote, and compare us to competitors – we are confident you won’t find a more cost effective solution anywhere!
