After months of bargaining, we have finally reached a Tentative Agreement with Help at Home that delivers several major victories like:

• A new wage floor of $18/hour with retro pay back to January 1, 2025,
  
• Seniority-based wage increases with our most senior home care aides earning up to $20.50/hour,
  
• Access to the company’s 401(k) account,
  
• Increased protections for immigrant workers, and
  
• A PTO cashout option for unused hours of paid time off!

Stay tuned for further updates and ratification instructions. A full breakdown of changes to our contract can be found below.

Tentative Agreement Between SEIU HCII and Help at Home, Inc.

ARTICLE 3: UNION SECURITY

Section 4: Union Lists

Within thirty (30) days following the execution of this Agreement, and within fifteen (15) days of the end of every subsequent month, the Company shall furnish the Union with a list in electronic format via email and hard copy of all employees who are members of the bargaining unit. Such list shall include the name, address, telephone number (where available), social security number (subject to the Employee’s right of refusal with respect to phone number and social security number), rate of pay, job classification, date of hire, dues withheld, and cumulative year-to-date totals of fees and dues for each Employee; the total gross wages for all Employees combined; the total union dues for all Employees combined; and the total number of Employees in the payroll period covered.  Further, the Company will furnish to the Union on a monthly basis a separate list detailing the names of all employees on leaves of absence and the starting dates of each leave.

Upon request by a steward, the Employer shall provide a bargaining unit list for the branch location in question within 7 days of the Union steward’s request.

ARTICLE 10: TRAININGS AND ORIENTATIONS

Section 1: In-service trainings

The Employer agrees that a period of time of not less than fifteen (15) minutes will be made available before or after each in-service training meeting, for Union Stewards and/or Union Representatives to address members of the bargaining unit. No management or supervisory personnel may be present during this time. The Employer agrees to inform the Union of in-service training dates, times and locations one month in advance if possible.

The Company and the Union will continue to meet and discuss compliance and cooperation regarding union access to bargaining unit employees at in-service trainings. Any branch location that does not provide at least one in-person in-service training session, that location will work directly with the Union to coordinate the Union’s participation at other large gatherings.

Primarily this includes providing the opportunity for the union to address HCAs during all in-service training packet distribution events, including:

• Guarantee dedicated time: Allocate a specific time slot for union representatives to addresss HCAs.
  
• Ensure accessibility: Provide adequate space for the union to engage with members.

Section 2: Union presentation at new employee orientations

Reasonable time, but no less than fifteen (15) minutes, shall be granted for Union Stewards and/or Union Representatives to make a presentation on the last day of the new hire orientation either before, during a break or after the orientation as mutually agreed by local Employer and Union staff, of new Employees on behalf of the Union for the purpose of identifying the organization’s representation status, organizational benefits, facilities, related information, and distributing and collecting membership applications. The Employee or Employees making the presentation shall be given time off with pay for the time required to make the presentation. The Employer will provide the Union reasonable notice of the place and time of meetings for the orientation of new Employees. If the agency does not offer an orientation within thirty (30) calendar days of hire, a Union representative may request to meet with the new employee or group of new employees in the bargaining unit. Subject to prior supervisory approval regarding scheduling, the Union representative will be allowed to meet on work time to cover these same items for no less than fifteen (15) minutes.

ARTICLE 34: WAGES

Section 1: Pay Scale

Effective January 1, 2025, provided the IDOA/DORS rate has increased to $29.63, all direct care employees, including all home care, Adult Day and DCFS employees shall receive the wages set forth in the scale grid below based on years of service with the Employer. The Employer and the Union agree to continue negotiations over wages and benefits for non-home care employees.

Retro shall be paid to active employees from the period January 1, 2025, through the retro calculation date (which shall be mutually agreed upon ratification). Retro shall be paid to active employees which is defined as those employees receiving at least one payment in the proceeding five (5) payrolls.

Years of Service	Effective January 1, 2025
0-1 year	$18
1-2 years	$18.05
2-3 years	$18.15
3-4 years	$18.25
4-5 years	$18.35
5-6 years	$18.45
6-7 years	$18.55
7-8 years	$18.65
8-9 years	$18.75
9-10 years	$18.85
10-11 years	$18.95
11-12 years	$19.05
12-13 years	$19.15
13-14 years	$19.25
14-15 years	$19.35
15-16 years	$19.45
16-17 years	$19.60
17-18 years	$19.75
18-19 years	$19.90
19-20 years	$20.05
20-21 years	$20.20
21-22 years	$20.35
22-23 years	$20.50

No wage cap.

For the purposes of clarification, the above wage scale is inclusive of the following increments:

• For year one (1) bargaining unit employees shall receive an additional $.05/hour for each year of service.
• For years two (2) through fifteen (15), bargaining unit employees shall receive an additional $.10/hour for each year of service.
• For years sixteen (16) through twenty-two (22), bargaining unit employees shall receive an additional $.15/hour for each year of service.
• For years twenty-three (23) and above, bargaining unit employes shall also receive an additional $.15/hour for each year of service.

For purposes of determining placement on the wage step, “years of service” for former employees of Homecare Personal Services (HCPS), Interim Healthcare, Leslie Bates, Ashley Quality Care, Community Care Systems, and Family Home Service shall include their years of service with these agencies, if such employees obtained employment with the Employer in connection with the Employer’s acquisition or takeover of these agencies.

The Employer and the Union shall use the agreed upon dates of hire for former Family Home Service employees on the list from January 2025.

Federal, state and local laws and ordinances regarding minimum hourly rates of pay will supersede this seniority scale in cases where the minimum wage is higher than the seniority scales wage.

Except as noted under Sections 5 and 6 below, under no circumstances shall any provision of this Agreement be interpreted as to cause a decrease in any Employee’s wage, nor will any employee receive less than the wages set forth in the applicable scale grid.

ARTICLE 36: PAID TIME OFF POLICY

Section 3: Seniority

Employees shall earn paid leave at the following accrual rate based on their years of service:

Years of Service	Accrual	Accrual cap	Max Cashout
0-5	1 hour for 40 hours worked	40 hours	10 hours
6-9	1.25 hours for 40 hours worked	65 hours	22.75 hours
10+	1.5 hours for 40 hours worked	75 hours	37.5 hours

NEW Section 4: PTO Pay

PTO shall be paid within two pay periods from the date the request was made.

Section 4: Carry-Over and Payout

Paid leave accrual shall carry over annually to the extent not used by the employee. An employee may elect to cash out unused paid leave based on the PTO table in Section 3: Seniority. Such an election shall be made by the employee between December 1 and December 31 of the calendar year. Cash out is only available to active employees and for hours accrued within the current year of the cash out request.  “Active” is defined as having received a paycheck in the preceding 90 days of the cash out request.  The Company is not required to pay employees for PTO accrued under this section upon the employee’s separation of employment.

Section 8: Other

The benefits provided by this section are in lieu of any benefits under the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (820 ILCS 192/1 et. seq), the sick leave provisions of the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance, the Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance (Chapter 6-130 of the Chicago Municipal Code) (collectively, the “Leave Laws”), and any subsequent amendments to the Leave Laws’ rules or regulations. 

This Agreement shall operate as an explicit waiver of the rights and obligations of the parties to this Agreement and all bargaining unit employees under the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act, the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance, and the Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance, in accordance with 820 ILCS 192 et. seq., Cook County Code of Ordinances §§ 42-5, and the Chicago Municipal Code § 6-130, as amended.   As such, the parties stipulate that this waiver of the requirements under the Leave Laws is clear and unambiguous and shall remain in effect until the execution of a successor agreement. 

The parties further agree that should a duplicate or substantially similar leave law come into effect during the term of the Agreement, and such law permits a clear and unambiguous waiver as the above Leave Laws, that the parties agree to waive the requirements of the statute in lieu of the bargained for language, provided the CBA provides benefits greater than or equal to the enacted leave laws.  Should a duplicate or substantially similar law come into effect during the term of the Agreement that does not permit such a waiver, the Parties agree that should the law provide greater benefits than the Agreement or benefits required that are not contained in this Agreement, the parties will meet and confer to discuss compliance. 

ARTICLE 37: HOLIDAYS

Effective April 1, 2025, Employees shall be eligible for holiday benefits after completing one (1) year of service.

Section 1: Scheduling

Employees desiring to take off any of the holidays listed below shall notify the Employer two (2) weeks prior to the holiday.  The Employer shall grant the holiday requests on the basis of seniority, consistent with client service needs.

Section 2: Full-Time Holiday Pay

Employees who have worked at least three hundred and sixty (360) hours during the three (3) month period prior to the holiday shall be eligible to take the following holidays as paid days off. Pay for the holiday shall be based on the Employee’s average hours worked per workday for the three-month period prior to the holiday. The average daily amount is calculated if the employee meets the required weekly average hours, based on a 5-day workweek. Eligible Employees choosing to work the holiday will be paid double their hourly wage for the day.

The employer recognizes the following days as holidays for these employees:

1.  New Year’s Day     

2.  Christmas Day

3.  Thanksgiving Day  

4.  Memorial Day

5.  Independence Day

6.  Labor Day

7.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day

If a paid holiday falls on a Saturday, it shall be observed the previous Friday. If a paid holiday falls on a Sunday, it shall be observed the following Monday.

Section 3: Part-Time Holiday Pay

Employees who have worked at least one hundred eighty (180) hours during the three (3) month period prior to the holiday shall be eligible to take the following holidays as paid days off. Pay for the holiday shall be based on the Employee’s average hours worked per workday for the three-month period prior to the holiday. The average daily amount is calculated if the employee meets the required weekly average hours, based on a 5-day workweek. Eligible Employees choosing to work the holiday will be paid double their hourly wage for the day.

The employer recognizes the following days as holidays for these employees:

1. New Year’s Day
   
2. Christmas Day
   
3. Thanksgiving Day
   
4. Independence Day

Section 4: Time Sheets and Accounting

1. Holiday pay will be issued within two (2) pay periods after the holiday.  Employees who are eligible for Holiday Pay and who are scheduled to work the holiday shall not be required to submit a holiday time sheet as a condition of payment.  The Company agrees to compute holiday pay based on the employee’s regular time sheet for the holiday. 
   
2. Employees who are eligible for Holiday Pay and who are not scheduled to work the holiday shall not be required to submit a holiday time sheet as a condition of payment.    
   
3. Any employee who is scheduled to work on a holiday but who is granted the holiday off work shall submit documentation of supervisor approval for the requested holiday hours at the same time he or she submits the regular time sheet, indicating that the holiday has been taken off with supervisor approval pursuant to Section 1 above.  These employees will receive holiday pay within two (2) pay dates following the holiday.  Failure to submit documentation of supervisor approval shall result in a loss of any entitlement to holiday pay.   
   
4. Eligibility for holiday pay shall be based only on hours of service reflected in time sheets that are received by the Company in time to be considered during processing of holiday pay.  The Company shall close out each holiday with the payroll that occurs four (4) pay dates following the holiday, and need not make any payment of holiday pay based on after-submitted time sheets. 
   

ARTICLE 35: TRAVEL PAY

Section 3: Mileage Reimbursement

Effective March 1, 2025, all Employees using automobiles will be reimbursed at a rate of $.46 cents per mile for trips between clients, authorized trips transporting clients and performing client errands. The reimbursement rate shall increase to $.48 cents per mile on January 1, 2026. If paid parking is required to provide service to a client, the Employer will reimburse the Employee the cost of the parking upon prior approval of the Employee’s supervisor. Employees must have a valid drivers’ license and auto insurance on file with the Company at the time that reimbursement requests are submitted.

Employees shall be reimbursed on a monthly basis for their mileage, by the end of the month following the month in which the mileage was incurred, provided paperwork is timely submitted. (By way of example, employees who submit their travel documentation for mileage incurred in November by December 1, shall be paid by the end of December.). Employees who fail to turn in mileage documentation by sixty (60) days following the month in which the mileage is incurred shall be ineligible for mileage reimbursement. (By way of example, employees who do not turn in their documentation for mileage incurred in November by the end of January shall be ineligible for mileage reimbursement for the month of November).

ARTICLE 40: REOPENER

Section 1: Cause to Reopen

The Employer and the Union agree that during the life of this Agreement, anytime the Employer’s Community Care Program Homemaker unit rate increases to an amount greater than its current rate of $29.63 or decreases to an amount less than its current rate of $29.63, or the minimum wage increases above the lowest pay rate contained in Article 34, or if there is an increase or decrease in the unit rate for the Employer’s other existing contracts for direct care, or if the Employer acquires new contracts for direct care at a unit reimbursement rate above the then current Community Care Program Homemaker unit rate, or if there is an over-all reduction in care plans for Community Care Program services which results in a ten (10) percent or greater reduction in client service hours at the represented branches, or if there is a material change in determining the criteria for Community Care Program eligibility which results in a ten (10) percent or greater reduction in client service hours at the represented branches, or if there is a change in the Community Care Program structure which results in a ten (10) percent or greater reduction in client service hours at the represented branches then the Union or the Employer may, upon written notice to the other, within fifteen (15) days of said change, reopen this Agreement for the sole purpose of negotiating wages and benefits.  In the event that this agreement is reopened, the remaining provisions of this agreement, with the exception of Article 8: NO STRIKE, NO LOCK OUT and Article 13: CLIENT CONFIDENTIALITY shall remain in full force and effect.

NEW ARTICLE X: EMPLOYEE ACCESS TO 401(k) RETIREMENT PLAN

All non-probationary employees who are members of the bargaining unit shall be eligible to participate in the Employer’s 401(k) Retirement Plans. Such eligibility is subject to existing plan rules and shall be implemented within 90 days of ratification.

ARTICLE X: WORK AUTHORIZATION

The Union and the Employer have a mutual interest in complying with the law and the collective bargaining agreement and ensuring that neither consumers nor home care workers are deprived of their rights or unnecessarily harmed in any way. The following provisions are designed to protect jobs to the maximum extent permitted by law and to ensure consumers are provided with stable and quality care.

A. In the event any Federal or State Agency, including without limitation the IL Dept on Aging, or any payer of services provided by the Company, institutes new rules or requirements related to an employee’s eligibility to provide direct client care, or as a result of an audit by Federal, or State agencies including but not limited to the IL Dept on Aging, or an internal audit conducted by the Employer, for any employee who previously completed their probationary period with the Company;

The Company will comply with all applicable requirements related to an employee’s eligibility to provide direct client care, and

The Company will notify the Union and affected employee/s in the event such rules, requirements, or audit results in the need to suspend any employee, discipline any employee, terminate any employee or reduce an employee’s work hours, in accordance with the requirements of the National Labor Relations Act, including identifying the affected employee. 

B. Change in Social Security Number or Name. Except as prohibited by law, when an employee presents valid documentation of change or updates or social security number change, or updated work authorization documents, the Employer shall modify its records to reflect such change and the employee’s seniority will not be affected. Such a change shall not constitute a basis for adverse employment action, notwithstanding any information or documents provided at the time of hire. The employer may not question an employee about work authorization if the employee requests that a union representative be present.

C. Participation in E-Verify Programs

The employer shall not participate in E-Verify unless required by law. If participation is required by law, the Employer shall:

• Provide the Union a copy of its E-Verify requirement or other Memorandum of Agreement with the relevant government agency;
  
• Upon request by the Union, both parties shall bargain as required by the NLRB. The Employer shall bargain in good faith and not delay such bargaining.

D. All the above are subject to the existing grievance procedure.