Our caregiver wants to quit the agency and work directly for us. What should we do?

Dear Duchess: First teh company is bonded. Make sure they are bonded and get an umbrella insurance on your houue andfamil

our hospice aid got fired from her company and came out to work in masonry with me the next day . it isnt the same situation but comical because i didnt like the hospice company anyway . 1-1/2 years later shes working out here with me again . she doesnt really like elder care but got shnooked out of a lot of money in student loans to learn the business .

I know I thought about hireing our gal privately,, but we had a $2000 buy out for one year, and then all the other paperwork mess? Not worth it to us.. Plus she already had mentioned she "tripped" on a bathroom rug.. I called the agency to see how that would work if she got injured.. on THEM.... and I don;t need the insurance problems. ( she has not "tripped" since I called...)

Thanks for comments! A friend who has used agencies and has good knowledge of business ways, says that anyone can sue - take me to small claims court, even if I didn't sign the contract, and do I want that headache? No. Things seem to be settling down with the workers and my mom, but I have a referral from my friend for future reference.

Pam, this doesn't sound like an under-the-table deal to me. The caregiver is changing agencies, not going independent. She is not evading taxes, just changing employers.

Merechap, since you haven't signed a contract with the current agency, I don't know if they can enforce their policies. Maybe that is a quick question you could ask of one of the free on-line legal answers sites.

Also, the agency's policy probably applies to you hiring the caregiver directly -- if she were to go independent she can't take her old clients with her, for a year. But I am not sure they can prevent another agency from sending her to your home. This is really a question for a lawyer.

Yes you would be liable for 5K and the payroll taxes & insurance that she is trying to evade. When you pay under the table all the risk is yours.

My mom's caregiver doesn't have a contract with the agency she works for and wants to quit to work for another agency that we would hire instead. There is a $5000 fee for one year should we hire her, but she will be quitting and I haven't yet signed the contract with the agency we've been using for about a month now. Will I be liable if I hire the caregiver?

I agree with others' posts. When I temped with agencies decades ago, fees were always involved if a client wanted to hire an employee placed by an agency. There were time restrictions, so some of them just waited out the time limit to avoid paying the fees. But in the meantime, the employee had to find other means of employment.

While your caregiver may only be getting 1/2 of what you pay the agency, some of that 1/2 goes for medical coverage, taxes and insurance paid by the agency.

You state that she's the only one "able to handle" your MIL, but there's no indication what MIL's issues are. If she's combative, you also have to consider the issue of possible claims of injury.

You might just contact your insurance agent to find out how much extra liability you'd need to carry - and whether they would even issue that kind of liability for a private party.

I'm wondering if there's something else going on between the caregiver and the agency that has prompted her to want to go private.

Duchess45, sounds like the problem is between the Caregiver and her employer. She may want to check out other Agencies and see what percentage of the fee she would get.

Gladimhere post above has a good point. My boss went through that with a caregiver for his wife, he had to pay a finder's fee. After he became *the boss* he was being more demanding on her time and what kind of work to do around the house, thus after 6 months she left.

And he was paying the caregiver directly as an *independent contractor* thus the caregiver needed to pay her own estimated quarterly taxes. Turns out she didn't understand that process and never paid her taxes.

I was thinking the same as Pam and Jeanne. The nice thing about a company is that they are licensed and insured. If there is injury on the job, the insurance covers it. They handle all the IRS and SS paperwork, paying half of the SS themselves. They cover her health insurance, which is mandated for all companies of a certain size. If I were to hire her outside the company, I would only do it if she were licensed and insured and self-employed. Otherwise the expenses and paperwork will fall on you.

The agency that we work with charges a $5,000.00 fee if we want to hire a caregiver away from them. Then what if caregiver decides that she doesn't want to do this any longer?

I have been a consultant (not in caregiving) and I have worked both independently (paid directly by the client) and through agencies.

Freqflyer is right. There is probably a contract with the agency that spells out what happens in this kind of situation. If the caregiver has agreed in the contract not to go to work directly for a client within x time of leaving the agency, you may face some difficulties or a gap in care.

Pam is right. You will take on new responsibilities in paying for her services. Therefore to maintain the same expense to you, you will not be able to pay her the same amount you were paying the agency. You might be able to pay her more than half of what she is getting, but certainly not close to double what she is getting from the agency.

I've been employed both ways. Both are honorable. But getting a job through an agency and then bailing to work for the same client directly is not considered quite ethical. And there are contract clauses against it.

I suggest that your caregiver negotiate with her agency, trying for a larger slice of the pie. Also that she continues to work for you through the agency. She should start planning ahead to her next job, and explore the ramifications of going independent at that point, finding her own job and setting her own terms.

I hope this works out so that she continues to care for your MIL.

You won't be saving much, because you will have to do the payroll, the withholding, the FICA co-pay, workmen's compensation, unemployment insurance, the benefits, sick pay, vacation pay and find a sub when she can't make it to work. Personally, I would not want the liability.

What does the agency's contract say? You might have to pay a *finder's fee* if she does leave and you keep her on.