Fired for wanting days off after 3 year of 24/7 care. What are my rights?

Contact your labor board as Pam suggested. You might have agreed to things that they were legally not allowed to ask of you. Also an employer is required to pay approx. half your FICA unless you are contract labor or there is another accepted pension system in place (like state employees in our state). However the laws around contract labor are very strict and caretakers are not considered contract labor. Your employers were responsible for withholding taxes and paying their share of your FICA. It is likely you can go after them for the monies they were supposed to pay. If you were paid under the table and did not file taxes then you will be responsible for your share of all taxes plus fines but your employer will still be responsible for theirs.

It is a legal violation to hire people as contract labor when the position does not qualify.

One can only collect unemployment if the *employer* was paying withholding taxes.

As far as the tax question, I had thought that anyone who worked in your home, like a babysitter, nanny, etc., that the homeowner would be responsible for collecting and the payment of taxes, to include income tax, FICA, and unemployment taxes. It would not mean that they pay your income tax, becuase they would have had to deduct it and pay the government, so you would still ultimately be responsible for any tax liability. But that would need to be check out anyway. IN the meantime, you might consider going to the unemployment office and see what you might be eligible for. As has already been mentioned, if your stress level was that high, no job is worth that kind of stress. It's a blessing in disguise and you are probably better off and may find something else that allows you to earn an income and be much happier.

susancares, are you saying you were a live-in caregiver since you worked 24 hours a day for seven days a week for 3 years, except for a few hours off on the weekends? It sounds like you agreed to this contract and had signed it. Correct? Was anything mentioned about payroll taxes, as to who would be paying said taxes?

Was the new contract signed by all parties, which stated you wanted weekends off, that you wanted a higher salary and the amount, and that the patient's daughter had to help you thus listing what the daughter would be doing to help you? If it wasn't agreed to and not sign by all, then you wouldn't be able to work without a contract, thus the reason the family let you go.

Good answer, Pam. I was really just trying to get this back to the top hoping someone would know what she should do.

You don't need an attorney, you need to file a complaint with your state labor board, aka unemployment department. Bring the copies of your contract.

I think you need to contact an attorney that specializes in employees' rights. Show him/her your contracts. I assume since they didn't withhold taxes that you paid them yourself quarterly?

If your stress level was very high, perhaps this is the opportunity you needed to look for a different line of work. You know the saying, when God shuts a door, he opens a window? Maybe this is the window.

Good luck.