New York’s Home Care Worker Wage Parity Act has been on the books since 2012, yet many of the workers it protects remain unaware of what it actually guarantees them.
The law applies to home care workers operating in New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County, covering a significant portion of the state’s care workforce.
Under the Act, employers are required to pay workers not just a base wage but also an additional “supplemental” sum on top of their standard hourly rate.
Employers can fulfil this supplemental obligation in one of two ways, either through direct cash payments or through benefits such as health insurance coverage.
Through the end of 2025, the base wage stood at $19.10 per hour, with the supplemental amount set at $2.54 per hour in New York City.
Workers in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties were entitled to a lower supplemental rate of $1.67 per hour under the same period’s provisions.
The law carries real enforcement weight, as demonstrated by a major settlement announced in June 2026 involving New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program.
A group of plaintiffs represented by Katz Banks Kumin and the Legal Aid Society reached a $162 million settlement covering approximately 200,000 downstate personal assistants.
As part of that agreement, the state’s fiscal intermediary will return at least $25 million that had been allocated from Wage Parity Act compensation for health benefits directly to the personal assistants affected.
A further $92 million allocated for paid time off will also be returned to workers as part of the same settlement, which received preliminary approval on 1 July 2026.
The scale of the settlement underscores how significant the financial stakes can be when employers fall short of their obligations under the Act.
Workers who believe their employer may not be meeting Wage Parity Act requirements are encouraged to scrutinise their pay carefully and seek legal advice if discrepancies arise.