Hiring a Caregiver: Risks and Responsibilities

May 19, 2011

 

          Hiring a Caregiver: Risks and  Responsibilities
Determining the Best Caregiver Arrangement for You and Your Loved one

You and your loved one have decided it’s time to have a little extra help in the home, and you’re looking to hire an in-home caregiver. But do you hire through an agency or hire directly?

“When looking at options for in-home care, determining the best option can get complicated quickly. It is important to understand the benefits, drawbacks and responsibilities of the different options available before making a decision,” said Scott Neal , Owner at Right at Home of Lincoln .

There are two basic approaches: hiring an independent caregiver directly or hiring a home care agency.

An independent caregiver will usually charge a lower hourly rate than an agency. However, it is important to be aware of the additional costs and responsibilities associated with hiring independently.

Contractor or Employee? Risks and Responsibilities
If you hire someone directly, he or she must be classified as either a contractor or an employee. The IRS and your state government both have guidelines you need to follow to make these classifications. Those classifications impact your responsibilities to the caregiver.

Generally, the caregiver will be considered an employee if you have significant control over the caregiver’s hours, responsibilities and behavior. This means you can require the caregiver to be at the home performing specified care duties for your loved one at scheduled times. You can require the caregiver to have particular kinds of training, and determine when and how much time off they can take. In short, you set the rules.

Sounds good, right? Well, there are drawbacks. When a caregiver is your employee, your loved one’s home becomes a place of employment. Every state has different legal requirements for a place of employment, and your loved one’s home will need to meet them. You will be responsible for paying taxes, benefits such as Social Security and Medicare, and worker’s compensation for the caregiver. Forms must be submitted to the federal government on a quarterly basis, and you must provide your caregiver with a W-2 each year. There are professionals who specialize in helping you meet these requirements, but you are responsible for paying for these services, too. If you fail to fill out the necessary forms, and the caregiver does not properly fill out their taxes, you will both most likely be audited.

Working with an independent caregiver as a contractor will reduce — though not eliminate — your legal responsibilities. You will still need to fill out a 1099 for the IRS annually for wages over $600, but many of the other responsibilities will fall on the caregiver. However, when you hire a caregiver as a contractor, you lose significant control over the care your loved one receives. To qualify as contractors, caregivers must be able to set their own schedules. They also determine sick days and vacation time for themselves, and if they are unavailable, they choose how to handle any scheduling while they are away — which means they can choose to send someone in their place, without any input from you on the replacement caregiver. You also do not have any ability to determine training qualifications for a contractor.

“You lose a lot of quality control in a contractor situation,” said Scott Neal. “Be careful who you hire if you go with a contractor.”

If you choose to hire an independent caregiver, whether contractor or employee, it is strongly recommended that you check the caregiver’s criminal record and call the caregiver’s references.

Home Care Agencies: Quality Control
If you do not wish to take on these risks and responsibilities, a home care agency, like Right at Home, is an option. An agency will charge a higher hourly rate because it manages taxes, training, background checks, bonding and insuring. Often, the overall costs of a home care agency and employing a caregiver directly come out to about the same amount after you factor in the additional costs and responsibilities of employing a caregiver yourself. Because the agency takes responsibility for these, there is greater quality control and consistency. You set the schedule and responsibilities. If your usual caregiver is sick or takes time off, the agency will coordinate an appropriate substitute.

“At Right at Home, we take your trust very seriously. We do all we can to make the best caregiver match for your loved one’s needs and personality,“ Scott Neal  said.

Home care agencies will differ some in their services and process, but at Right at Home, the heart of a positive caregiving relationship is individual attention and mindful caregiver matching.

On your first call with Right at Home, we will ask some questions to form a basic needs assessment. Then, we set up an in-home meeting with you, your loved one, and the rest of your family so that you can learn more about who we are and how we can help. From this, we get an in-depth understanding of your unique situation and needs.

After the in-home visit, we take all that we have learned about you and your loved one and create a custom care plan tailored to your loved one's specific needs. Then, we have a follow-up meeting with you and discuss it together in detail. Once a care plan that all parties are satisfied with is agreed on, Right at Home’s caregiver matching program finds the most appropriate caregiver to suit your loved one’s needs and personality.

Right at Home knows that finding a caregiver for your loved one is an important decision, and that it can often feel daunting. But with the right information, it doesn’t have to be.


About Right at Home
Founded in 1995, Right at Home offers in-home companionship and personal care and assistance to seniors and disabled adults who want to continue to live independently. Local Right at Home offices are independently owned and operated and directly employ and supervise all caregiving staff, each of whom is thoroughly screened, trained, bonded and insured prior to entering a client’s home. Right at Home’s global office is based in Omaha, Nebraska, with franchise offices located in 40 states nationwide, the United Kingdom and Brazil. For more information on Right at Home, visit About Right at Home at http://www.lincoln.rightathome.net or read the Right at Home caregiving blog at http://www.rightathome.net/blog. To sign up for Right at Home’s free adult caregiving eNewsletter, Caring Right at Home, visit http://caringnews.com.

Call today for complement assessment 402.488.4421