Tuesday, June 7, 2011

OT Cap for Caregivers Sought

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Thirteen-year-old Jonathan Carey died four years ago after an aide at the state's O.D. Heck center, who had worked a string of double shifts, suffocated the autistic boy during an excursion in a van. The aide, Edwin Tirado, was eventually convicted of manslaughter in the case. It was later revealed that Tirado was a veritable overtime king at the Niskayuna institution, having logged 1,647 overtime hours the year before.
Now, Carey's father Michael is pushing a bill that would limit the amount of overtime that caregivers can work, although it's unclear if such controls will actually be passed by the Legislature this year.
"We need to cap it," Carey said of a measure he's supporting that would limit to 60 hours the total amount of time a direct care worker could spend on the job in a given week at centers for the disabled such as O.D. Heck.

No comments:

Post a Comment