Thanks to last year’s Emergency Fund, our union moved one step closer to winning a lawsuit to overturn Washington state budget cuts to home care client hours.
On Dec. 16, 2011, the federal court blocked some of the cuts to home care hours made by the legislature. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction in our favor. They ruled that the cuts may violate the civil rights of clients by threatening their ability to live independently in their own homes.
Cuts have been suspended and hours restored for the handful of individual plaintiffs involved in the case. However, the court decision does not immediately apply to all home care clients and workers.
We’re fighting now to extend the ruling to apply to all home care clients and workers. The state of course is trying to overturn the ruling and keep the hours cuts in place. If we win this battle, hours will be restored and for seniors and people with disabilities who rely on home care.
Court cases can be unpredictable and slow, but this decision is our first victory in a long fight to defend our members against unfair hours cuts. The court could final decision in the next six months on whether to suspend the cuts to all home care clients.
The emergency fund was approved by more than 85 percent of Washington home care workers last summer paid for our union’s part of this lawsuit. We joined with the ARC of Washington and a dozen individual clients for the lawsuit, arguing that the cut threatens the quality of client care.