If we hire a private caregiver as an employee, what are we responsible for besides taxes?

Services: You have to know exactly what services you want them to preform and clearly direct them accordingly. And in many cases the family members hiring someone don't fully understand understands all the needs of the senior(s) so they don't know to direct them for all the appropriate services they need.

Scheduling: You are responsible for creating their schedule as well as following up with them if they are a no show, call out sick or need to take additional time off. You'll need to find a replacement for them for those times or you'll need to be available yourself.

Supervision: You're their boss and are responsible for managing their performance and discipline. This can put both you and the caregiver in an awkward position if they differencing opinions than you.

Background Checks: You should ALWAYS do a background and drug screen on anyone you're having come into your home. Since references are typically provided by the potential employee they are typically only going to give you the ones that are good so a formal background check is always recommended.

Taxes: You're responsible for withholding taxes and social security, filing appropriate reports. This includes State and Federal unemployment compensation taxes as well. Penalties are severe and could result in large fines if not done properly. (Recommend hiring an accountant to assist).

Malpractice: You are responsible if your employee does something wrong and injures the person receiving services.

Employee Injuries: You are responsible if there is an injury in your home. This could result in medical bills or even a major lawsuit.

Theft: You are responsible if an employee steals from you or the person receiving care. If caught you'll be responsible for handling the police reports and appearing at trial, meaning you'd most likely need a lawyer.

If you don't want to go through all this and be fully responsible for the caregiver you could speak with a home care agency about hiring on your caregiver to provide care to your parent. And the agency would take care of all of the above listed concerns. Sure you'll pay more but the peace of mind is typically worth it. Even though she's been with you for a year doesn't mean something can't go wrong in the future and the best steps are to ensure you and your family are protected.

Good Luck.

Hi carol,I also have had caretakers for up to 2 years with no problems.
We have them sign a form as an independent contractor and theynpay their own taxes, not us. According to our Accountant this is fine. I have home owners
Insurance with workers comp and that's it. Oh we also have cameras to make sure there is no abuse or lying, it's helped us a few times too!
We pay with a check and give them time sheets they sign, we do everything legal as I am responsible for the estate, etc. I have a daily schedule and routine in which they go by. I also go thru care.com as they do background checks which I copy for my files. If you go thru an agency you can get poor help, I have found, they ar. E getting $8-10 an hour instead of $15 which we pay. I find people that love their work, not people who cannot find work. Two whom I almost hired but didn't, from an agency, turned out later to have both stole and got caught.
They were sued from families and had clean background checks but a lot of people work for agencies because they are desperate for money. I do not mean to offend anyone, some are great! This is just my experience in interviewing and hiring many over the years. Email me if you have any questions, best of luck.

I would have to disagree with luvmom, maybe she's just been lucky but I've heard of more horror stories with issues of people being hired through registries/independently vs. a home care companies. In many cases they couldn't get hired on with a home care company because of their background, not being able to pass a drug test and a myriad of other reasons (lying about qualifications, poor references, etc) which is why they turn to registries because they aren't scrutinized the same.

And while yes they might make less per hour ($8-10 vs $15) they don't have to worry about doing their own taxes (sure you pay them $15 but after they pay their own taxes they're down to closer to what the others are making), if they were ever to get laid off for whatever reason they'd qualify for unemployment (which you don't when you're a contract worker) and most home care agencies offer insurance to full time caregivers so there's a lot of benefits to working for a home care company. And lets not forget they offer a great support system --people you can turn to, to talk to when you have a bad day. Many home care companies also offer free training to keep the caregiver up on their skills and knowledge of the ever changing healthcare environment. I also noticed you also didn't address what happens when your caregiver is out sick...which coming to work sick because she doesn't have insurance could put your parent in the line of something contagious.

Oh, and a benefit to the caregiver is that getting loans as a contract worker is much more difficult than being an employee because you have to prove a solid stable work history. So in today's economy if they wanted to get a car or house it's going to be easier for the person who works for a company to qualify than it will be for someone who's an independent contractor (because they typically have gaps in work).

So, I think a home care company is a win-win for both sides.

I agree hire from an agency-they can send another person if the one assigned to you calls in sick or just does not show up and if you find he or she in not doing a good job a replacement can be found also they are insured.

I guess it's equal as the ones I interviewed from home care
Agencies were not CNA's or qualified. One told me the agency gave her a 10 question test. One told me she is only doing it as she lost her
Office job and one I tried got feces all over the wipes container, etc. O had bad luck. Care.com or any online agency runs a background check and in also get and call their references. I have had two former CNA's working
Here and only twice were they out, one covered for the other one once and once I called in sick to my job (at that time) I am now retired but need time away for my groceries, etc. I do not allow anyone in my house even with a runny nose, inhale strict rules on that. Go with your gut instinct on a person no matter where you find them, either way is fine as long as you interview them and call their references. Good luck!