Am I overpaying my dad's live in caregiver?

I know of live in caregivers here. They have to drive 2 hours to get to their clients home. The caregivers are there 24/7, every other week.

They only bring home $800.00/week.

I think you have a good set up. I have a problem with the caregiver leaving to go out during the night, though. Safety could be a problem, I would not allow your dad to be left alone at night. I am glad she has some time off and I think $20 an hour sounds reasonable. The caregiver has a good set up too. Hard to find live-in caregivers like the one you have it seems. SUV is transportation your dad, I would not include that as payment, it is part of the job. Room and board should not be included as pay for the caregiver. I think you are very thoughtful and kind to the caregiver and It seems your dad is getting excellent care. the way it should be. All the best to you and your father

I can't respond to the pay issue, but I do have some comments. Is dad able to turn himself during the night. If not & she is paid to be there overnight because dad needs to be turned every 2-3 hours to prevent bedsores. Is he continent during the night? If not, she needs to check him for accidents unless he's able to call her for changing. Is the SUV for her to use for transporting your dad or did you buy it for her( she'll take it when she leaves)? That should be factored in her pay if it belongs to her. What does he do from 9 to 11? Does someone else provide help during that time?

I asked about help in the night because when I cared for my mom there were occasional to frequent interruptions to my sleep. Unfortunately those happen when they happen and were not on a schedule. I HAD to be there all the time, just in case. It was a responsibility of the job.

You have a good arrangement, I would not mess with that by talk of lowering the wage. In theory, and an agency would agree, that she should be paid through the night as well.

Thank you!

You are not paying too much. Is she an employee or are you paying under the table?

Rent is never a consideration of partial payment for a live in caregiver. Wouldn't she be responsible if something happened with dad in the night?

She doesn’t get him up. He’s in bed until 9. He so far never gets up in the night. She starts at 11am

You have not stated what her expected hours are. But if she has to get up with Dad, say at 7:00 am, make his breakfast, get him dressed etc, and she is off at 8 pm when he goes to bed, that is a 13 hour day. Take off 2 hours when the other care provider is there and she has an 11 hour day 5 days a week. Or 55 hours a week.

Where I live any hours over 8 in a day are paid 1.5x. Any hours over 48 in a week are double time.

So no, I do not think you are paying too much.

joyandkarin, sounds like you are being very fair to this caregiver. Remember, caregiving is not a 9 to 5 job, the client doesn't return to normal at 5:05 pm. Your live-in caregiver has to be alert during the night in case your Dad needs to use the bathroom.

My own Dad was a fall risk, so he had 3 shifts of caregivers daily as he didn't know how to do all the things that my Mom use to do when she was alive. He was like a fish out of water when it came to what he called "women's work" [he was in his 90's]. He was paying $30/hr to the professional agency where the caregivers were employed.

Overtime? Doesn't she have set hours?

You r a very good employer and yes, I think ur paying too much since she gets room and board too. But some may not agree with me. I don't think you can do much about her hourly pay now but I would question the overtime.