Back pay won for newly-organized members
July 1, 2019
On November 1, 2018, Local 137 won the election to represent 32 employees of AccentCare Home Health of California. The bargaining unit consists of in-home health care providers and clerical staff.
“Shortly after we won the election, we learned that the company had stopped paying employees for ‘Windshield Time’,” which Business Agent Kim Carelli described as an additional stipend paid based on the number of miles driven per day to care for patients.
Carelli filed an unfair labor practice charge and the NLRB ruled in favor of the union.
In May, the union and company reached a settlement that resulted in current and former employees receiving over $6,500 in backpay and interest.
Carelli says that the Local is currently in negotiations for a first contract and has reached several tentative agreements. The company will continue to pay Windshield Time through the negotiations process and the union has proposed that the language gets into the contract.
