Melimar, one has to check State Laws in regard to overtime pay, and if the caregiver is as "independent contractor" or from a licensed Agency.
My Dad had caregivers from an Agency. The only time overtime was paid was if it was end of a shift and the next shift caregiver hadn't arrived after a certain amount of time.
Garden Artist is right. Agencies (or families, if private pay) do not want to pay overtime and would have the first c/g get off on time, then send another c/g, even if only for a few more hours.
I know this is true because I worked as a c/g when we first moved here, before I got a nursing job. Of course, I was more than qualified to be a c/g. Here, in southern Calif., a c/g's working day is 9 hours. Anything over that is considered OT and is charged at time and a half. As long as you don't have a criminal record, anyone can get a job in caregiving, whether you have ever cared for someone infirm or not.
My patient and his wife liked me so well that they told the company to keep me for the whole 12 hours (they were privately paying.) The company I worked for would send totally incompetent c/g's and they were dismissed after the first day. A c/g at least has to "fit" with the family.
I don't know about insurance covering caregivers hours because the company I worked for was all private pay.
Maybe a cut in the budget, maybe they cant find people who want to work for what they are paying and the young people of today if they are not cut out for this type of work are not applying.. just a thought!!
Melimar, I did a little bit of back checking and found that you wrote in another post that you have 24/7 caregivers. So I assume these are private duty caregivers?
If so, paying overtime is an agency's decision, and they can control staff costs better by having more people for a 24/7 (or even less time) commitment than by paying OT. It's a financial issue. These are the agencies that aren't reimbursed by Medicare, but they may accept long term care insurance. In that case, follow Ahmijoy's suggestions.
If you're paying out of pocket, the choice to pay overtime probably would come back to whether or not you'll willing to pay that extra cost, and it may be worth it if you've got a good caregiver.
However, there may be labor law issues as well, for the caregiver field specifically. I don't know; I'm just spectulating on that.
One of the aspects I disliked about private duty was that they "cobbled" together disparately qualified workers to meet the minimum times I needed for Dad's care. Two they sent were worthless; only one was competent. But for her to work longer hours would have cost the agency more; so they sent jerks who were unqualified.
I don't recall w/o reading the contract again whether or not it addressed OT for workers; it might have, and probably would have been passed along to us (which would have been worth it for me).
With one exception of one company that was accredited through a home care agency (ACHC I think) , the others were typically franchise outfits, running the agencies on their own terms, with no oversight.
These private duty agencies have a lot of flexibility in how they manage their business.
It probably has to do with reimbursement from insurance. Home Health Care workers are approved to provide services for a certain amount of hours for a certain amount of days. If they are approved to come out for 4 hours, 3 days per week and go over that limit, Insurance will not pay which means the agency will not pay. If you are a caregiver, ask your employer. If you asking from a patient’s perspective, call your insurance to see what their limits are.
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My Dad had caregivers from an Agency. The only time overtime was paid was if it was end of a shift and the next shift caregiver hadn't arrived after a certain amount of time.
I know this is true because I worked as a c/g when we first moved here, before I got a nursing job. Of course, I was more than qualified to be a c/g.
Here, in southern Calif., a c/g's working day is 9 hours. Anything over that is considered OT and is charged at time and a half. As long as you don't have a criminal record, anyone can get a job in caregiving, whether you have ever cared for someone infirm or not.
My patient and his wife liked me so well that they told the company to keep me for the whole 12 hours (they were privately paying.) The company I worked for would send totally incompetent c/g's and they were dismissed after the first day. A c/g at least has to "fit" with the family.
I don't know about insurance covering caregivers hours because the company I worked for was all private pay.
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If so, paying overtime is an agency's decision, and they can control staff costs better by having more people for a 24/7 (or even less time) commitment than by paying OT. It's a financial issue. These are the agencies that aren't reimbursed by Medicare, but they may accept long term care insurance. In that case, follow Ahmijoy's suggestions.
If you're paying out of pocket, the choice to pay overtime probably would come back to whether or not you'll willing to pay that extra cost, and it may be worth it if you've got a good caregiver.
However, there may be labor law issues as well, for the caregiver field specifically. I don't know; I'm just spectulating on that.
One of the aspects I disliked about private duty was that they "cobbled" together disparately qualified workers to meet the minimum times I needed for Dad's care. Two they sent were worthless; only one was competent. But for her to work longer hours would have cost the agency more; so they sent jerks who were unqualified.
I don't recall w/o reading the contract again whether or not it addressed OT for workers; it might have, and probably would have been passed along to us (which would have been worth it for me).
With one exception of one company that was accredited through a home care agency (ACHC I think) , the others were typically franchise outfits, running the agencies on their own terms, with no oversight.
These private duty agencies have a lot of flexibility in how they manage their business.