A new regulation is requiring health care providers in Los Angeles to redirect profits toward worker wages. McKnight Senior Living reports that assisted living communities are going to be covered by the new city ordinance that, when signed, will direct profits toward worker compensation. Called the Healthcare Workers Minimum Wage ordinance, the new regulation aims to set the minimum wage at $25 per hour for health care workers at privately owned health care facilities. The motivation for this new ordinance is the idea that raising the minimum wage will address burnout, staff overturn, and retention problems.
Previous ordinances have covered the living wages of airport and hotel workers; this is the first ordinance in Los Angeles that will target health care workers in private health care organizations. Once signed, the ordinance will go into effect in 30 days, and will require a consistent revisit to the minimum wage, which will likely be increased based on the current cost of living. McKnight’s Senior Living reports that justification for the reallocation of funds in the ordinance is based on the exponential increases in profits that private health care providers have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to the lack of increased compensation that health care workers have seen during the same period.
For the ordinance to be impartial, it also lists requirements and criteria that an assisted living community in Los Angeles must meet to have mandatory compliance with the ordinance. In this sense, the ordinance protects employers who did not have drastic increases in profits, and may have profit due to layoffs or increased charges for work-related materials and equipment.
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SOURCE:
Bonvissuto, K. (2022). Ordinance directs healthcare industry to redirect profits toward worker compensation. McKnight’s Senior Living. https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/home/news/ordinance-directs-healthcare-industry-to-redirect-profits-toward-worker-compensation/
