Profit-seeking Private Equity Funds that are rapidly taking over New York's Homecare Industry have exacerbated the low pay, poor support and exploitation faced by Homecare Workers, two studies from Researchers at the Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations reveal.  

The first study, released in June, found private equity has benefited from weak New York State-level regulations, a divided, vulnerable workforce and the 2025 shift, backed by Governor Kathy Hochul, of over 50% of homecare services in the State from 600 companies to just one company, the private equity-owned Public Partnerships LLC.  

The second, September study focused on the experience of Homecare Workers who told researchers that after private equity took over their companies, automation was instituted, and communication, wage theft, managerial negligence and scheduling all worsened.

This often resulted in poorer care for patients in need. 

"They don't allow us to take days off for funerals," one unnamed Worker told researchers. "They don't allow us to take days off for emergencies, like if we have sick children. I don't have children, but I have friends that work for (my agency) that have children that was sick. You get written up for those. That's what they do. They'll write you up.” 

But the consolidation of over half of the State's Homecare Companies under one private equity-backed company could be a boon for one of the key moves Workers could take that the studies' Authors argue could benefit Homecare Workers: Unionization.

One of the studies' authors, Zoë West - a Senior Researcher on Worker Rights and Equity in the School's Worker Institute, told The Chief in an interview that homecare was an industry ripe for the picking for private equity firms due to low pay, few regulations and low level of Unionization among the workforce.

Private equity owners often made those problems worse, the studies found. 

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