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My 86 year old father has a caregiver who lives at his house. The responsibilities are cooking, housework, occasional Dr. appointments etc. Overall his physical health is fine but mentally he is very fearful of being alone and has severe anxiety if left alone for more that a couple of hours. His caregiver does not need to change him or get up in the night for any reason. He gets his own breakfast and then she makes him something for lunch and maybe a light dinner. Any help in determining what would be a reasonable amount of pay would be greatly appreciated!

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Check with the Department of Labor or a CPA to determine law in California.
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anonymous906152 May 2019
Are you referring to law as in minimum wage or something else? The minimum wage in CA is $11 per hour but is there something else that I should be looking into?
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Calgirl, the amount one pays depends on the negation between the caregiver and the client. Minimum wage sounds good for what needs to be done at this point in time. Later down the road if the caregiver needs to be more hands-on, then an increase in pay would be good.

Also, make sure there is a written and signed contract between the caregiver and your Dad. This will come in handy if for some reason later down the road your Dad needs to apply for Medicaid [which is different from Medicare]. The contract will also state what are the working hours, the days off, the hourly rate, the job itself, etc. Is your Dad paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, or is the caregiver handling that herself? There are companies that do payroll checks for a fee.

One thing Dad will need to do, if not done already, is to talk to his homeowner's insurance carrier about "workman's comp" insurance. This is usually required if someone has an "employee" working for them on a regular basis. This is needed in case the caregiver should get hurt on the job.
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worriedinCali May 2019
The dad better be paying social security & Medicare & all other payroll taxes. He can’t treat the caregiver as a contractor.
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If I recall correctly, California requires overtime to be paid after 8 hours per day in addition to after 40 hours per week. I don't know how that works with a live-in employee if they are on call all the time.

Wow, check out this article from a law firm soliciting live-in 24-hour caregivers who are not being paid at least $346.50 per day to comply with the overtime laws: https://cr.legal/california-caregiver-overtime/

California law is very employee-friendly, so I would definitely consult a CPA or lawyer and make sure you have everything set up correctly. Tax withholding, workers comp, and make sure your homeowner's insurance will cover an employee for injuries, otherwise you may need a separate liability policy.
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Thanks so much for the replies...I went ahead and contacted a CPA and also an attorney to make sure all bases are covered. We are brand new to all of this so it’s hard to know where to start.
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