Sleep-deprived and fed up, dozens of home care workers planted themselves outside New York City Hall on Wednesday, March 18, staging a sit-in that stretched through the afternoon by the Broadway gate at Murray Street. The crowd included current and retired attendants, labor organizers and allies, all demanding an end to 24-hour assignments that they say leave them injured, underpaid and running on fumes. Under the 24-hour model, workers say they are often paid for only part of those hours, a setup they describe as unsustainable and dangerous.
Organizers are pushing for a local law that would cap assigned home-care shifts at 12 hours and block repeated, back-to-back 24-hour stints. The sit-in was deliberately timed to turn up the heat on Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council as Councilmember Christopher Marte reintroduced that measure this year, according to The City. Workers at the action told reporters they routinely log as many as 96 straight hours without real rest, organizers said.
DCWP Backs The Idea, Worries About Cash And Data Gaps
The city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection told Council members it supports the basic goal of the bill, but warned that banning 24-hour assignments without more Medicaid funding could shrink available shifts and disrupt care for patients. In testimony entered into the Council record, the agency also acknowledged it lacks a comprehensive dataset, but estimated that roughly 8 to 10 percent of New York City's home-care workforce are on 24-hour schedules. Rolling out the change would require coordination with state Medicaid authorities and additional resources for the agency, according to New York City Council hearing materials.
Cost Fight Centers On Who Picks Up A Bigger Tab
Provider groups and some disability advocates have warned that breaking one 24-hour assignment into two fully paid 12-hour shifts would drive program costs up across the city. An analysis cited by union leaders pegs that increase at about $645 million a year in New York City, a number that has loomed over every budget conversation on the issue. Advocates pushing to end the 24-hour model counter that the current system amounts to wage theft and damages workers' health, and they argue that any local move should be paired with state reimbursement changes so that community-based care is not gutted, according to legal and labor advocates at NCLEJ.
Workers' Stories Fuel A Long Organizing Push
Organizers say Wednesday's sit-in is the latest chapter in a multi-year fight that has already seen hunger strikes, rallies and repeated City Council hearings. Some home-care agencies have started to move away from assigning 24-hour cases, while others are digging in, a clash that has helped spark new organizing and prompted fresh hearings at City Hall. Local coverage has tracked that back-and-forth and the broader movement to overhaul the schedule rules, according to reporting from Documented.
What Comes Next At City Hall
Councilmember Christopher Marte reintroduced the proposal in January, and with multiple co-sponsors signed on it could see an initial Council vote as early as March 26, The City reported. At the sit-in, workers like Belkis Cid de Bruno described years of declining health after more than a decade on long assignments, while Mireya Silva said the 24-hour shift pushed her into early retirement. Organizers point to stories like these as stark reminders that behind the spreadsheets and policy debates are workers who say their bodies have been quietly paying the price.
