Local 3005 Passes Resolution Supporting Bill To End 24 Hour Shifts
At our May 28, 2026 general membership meeting, we passed the following motion to sign the open letter to the City Council Speaker and join the fight to ban 24-hour shifts for home care employees. We stand in solidarity with fellow workers in their struggle for humane working conditions and fair pay.
WHEREAS, home care employees are workers whose primary responsibility includes the provision of in-home assistance or in-home companionship services for an older adult or a person with an illness, injury, or disability with basic activities of daily living or health-related tasks.
WHEREAS, currently, home care employers are legally allowed to assign 24-hour shifts and pay employees for only 13 hours, claiming the unpaid hours are for sleep and meal breaks.
WHEREAS, home care employees realistically cannot take their legally allowed breaks while attending to their patients’ needs and due to the fact that their services were advertised as 24 hours of care, resulting in worker exploitation and worse care for patients.
WHEREAS, New York City’s care workforce is largely female; older; Black, Hispanic, Asian, other or mixed race; and immigrant, representing multiple socially disadvantaged and historically marginalized populations.
WHEREAS, there has been an ongoing fight for the last four years to split the single 24-hour shift into two 12-hour shifts.
WHEREAS, personal testimonials from home care employees chronicle the physical and mental toll of 24-hour shift work: not being able to sleep more than one hour during the shift; chronic insomnia, physical pain, and other health issues after they stop working; damage to their social relationships after neglecting their family to complete their 24-hour shifts; and one instance when an employee start documenting the tasks they completed during their shift and was soon fired.
WHEREAS, previous versions of legislation banning 24-hour shifts for home care employees have been introduced to the City Council and filed without being brought to a vote, effectively ending the bills.
WHEREAS, Int. 0303-2026 Version A, introduced to the New York City Council in 2026 by City Council member Christopher Marte bans home care employers from assigning any home care employee to work a shift exceeding 12 hours, consecutive 12-hour shifts, and shifts totaling more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period (with exception for unforeseeable circumstances only if the employer has exhausted all reasonable efforts to obtain proper staffing and such excess hours shall not exceed 2 hours per day or 10 hours per week). The bill also bans shifts totaling more than 56 hours per week for home care employees unless the employer provides one week advanced notice to the employee and obtains written consent from the employee before the applicable week. The employee shall have the right to revoke such consent to work hours in excess of the limitations.
WHEREAS, Int. 0303-2026 Version A tasks the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections with investigating complaints of violations and grants them the authority to impose civil penalties for violations.
WHEREAS, Int. 0303-2026 has still not been brought to a vote in City Council, prompting a 5-week sit-in by protestors at City Hall and an eight-day hunger strike by fifteen home care employees.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, that DC 37 Local 3005 will sign the DC37 Retirees and Current Members Letter in Support of the NoMore24 Act as a singular entity.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, this body supports the proposed Int. 0303-2026 Version A, A.K.A. the “No More 24” Act, and the end to 24-hour shifts.
FINALLY, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, this body urges City Council to vote on Int. 0303-2026 Version A without further delay.