I want to hire a caregiver privately and am being told by management that I cannot do it?

Does this person work for the agency?

If no, they have no say in who you can hire.

Put it in writing that you are firing them because they have been unable to fulfill their contract. 11 different caregivers and all the problems etc. They may try and say you have to use them and she needs to be hired through the agency but I doubt that is true if this wasn't their employee. Only communicate in writing and do not give them any information that is none of their business, stick to why you are firing them.

If yes, you and caregiver are both probably bound by contracts.

I would request this person be the only caregiver they send and if they refuse find a different agency and wait out the time you cannot direct hire because of contracts.

This is standard practice with home care agencies and I’d bet even home cleaning agencies like Merry Maids.

It makes sense if you look at it from the agency’s point of view. They hire the person, often put additional training into them and then place them with an in-home job.

If if there was no clause prohibiting moving into a private pay situation - all the money they have invested in the employee would be lost and they would have continuous turnover, which would likely put them out of business after a while.

What is it you don’t like about the agency?

Toni, look for the contract that you had signed with the Agency, I bet there is a section where it refers to hiring the caregiver for yourself. Usually there will be a "finder's fee".

The Agency contract I had, the "finder's fee" was $10k. But I was lucky, Dad's caregivers were all great, and so was the Agency :)

In order for you to hire this caregiver, the caregiver would need to quit and wait for a certain time frame before you could hire her. The time could be 6 months or 1 year.

If you do hire a private caregiver, please note you would need to contact your household insurance carrier. You will need to purchase a "workman's comp" policy in case the caregiver gets hurt on the job.

As for paying the caregiver, would you be able to do payroll taxes, etc. similar to what the Agent had done? There are paycheck companies that you can hire to do this for you, including the W-2. Did the Agency offer benefits, such as health care, vacation days, sick days, continuing training, etc?

Would you be able to obtain a backup caregiver if the caregiver cannot make it in for a day or two? No different than any other employee, they can get sick, or have children at home, want time off, etc.

Food for thought.