In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) continues to mess up poor people’s lives. The state office of IHSS recently came out with a new timesheet for IHSS caregivers and workers. The new timesheet is difficult to fill out, and not user-friendly. It was designed to torture people. They claim it was designed for cutting down on fraud and waste. As the form says, if the person filling it out makes any error, home care workers will be delayed two weeks in getting their pay. The form must be filled out in black ink, all hours recorded down to the last minute, and everything spelled out in its proper square. There is a square for hours, a square for minutes, and a square for each day of the week. This is time-consuming for the client and the worker. On the old timesheets, hours were recorded using a decimal point system for minutes. This is no longer the case. IHSS claims that home care workers could be “cheating” on their timesheets, and this new timesheet is supposed to prevent that. The client is supposed to fill out the new timesheet – not the worker. This is another example of criminalizing poor workers.
The idea of fraud on the part of IHSS workers is bogus, proved by the last independent statewide audit, which showed 0.2% fraud. That’s incredibly low. Nursing homes, on the other hand, have a rate of 20% fraud statewide, due to things like double-billing, performing unnecessary tests, and other things that go unnoticed, to pad their bills. The San Francisco county office of IHSS is opposed to this change in policy around timesheets, as is the Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS).
There are agencies that will help consumers and agencies fill out the new timesheets. These include elder care organizations, such as: California Independent Living Center, Department of Adult & Aging Services (whatever it is called in your county), and supposedly IHSS as well. At agencies like adult day care centers, social workers can help clients fill out the new forms. Senior organizations can also help people fill out their forms, like: Senior and Disability Action (formerly Senior Action Network) in San Francisco, California Retired Association (better known as CARA - a statewide agency), or your local chapter called CATS. Workers’ organizations that can help include: the State Federation of Labor, or your local homecare workers’ union. In San Francisco and Los Angeles counties it would be United Healthcare Workers. In most other counties it would be your local SEIU. These are just a few that are presently involved in negotiations with the state.
As a poverty skolar and journalist for POOR, I sat through some of these negotiations. I had to translate state gobbledygook into basic sixth grade English with only a high school diploma.
If you’re a provider or home care worker, and are dissatisfied with the new timesheet, write or email your governor and voice your disapproval.