‘They call me a criminal’: Nursing home workers who can spread the virus

The food assistant, Mr. Verd, 33, said he was paid 80,980 an hour, and his salary has remained unchanged since he began working 14 years ago. Ms. Julius, a certified nurse, earns about $ 12 an hour.

Sheryl Carlos, 56, works three days a week, seven days a week in Port St. Lucy, north of West Palm Beach. One in a nursing home, the other in a retirement community; She earns extra income by taking care of one or two people in private homes. She earns about $ 13 an hour.

“I tell you one thing, I don’t have a life,” he said recently when he returned home early in the morning after completing a nine-hour shift. “If some jobs paid you enough, you wouldn’t have to work like that.”

Nursing home lawyers say most work facilities do not restrict the availability of other work staff. Raising wages is difficult, they say, when revenue is determined by the government or Medicare.

“There are good owners out there who do a good job and try to pay people more,” said Dr. Alice Ponner, who advises caring for the elderly at a health promotion agency.

“But if you often get medical clients in your clinic, you get very little money for those clients, and if it doesn’t cover your expenses, it’s very difficult to increase salaries and benefits.”

In May and early June, Mr. Word and Mrs. Employees who have filed complaints regarding dismissal and their union.