Caregiver Bonus?
Hello, this is my first posting. I am really appreciating all the information and guidance I am reading on this forum since joining about 1 month ago.
My 95 year old mother just went into SNF. She lives on the opposite coast from me and I had only visited her once a year for the last 40 years. She had home health care everyday 4 hours in AM, 4 hours in PM for the last 10 years. Her 3 caregivers worked together as a team and were not with an agency.
Mom ran out of money a few months ago and DH and I had been trying to figure out what to do. We took control of her expenses, paying her bills and ordering groceries. We contributed 1000s of our own money to try to keep her afloat until either she passed or went into SNF and got Medicaid.
Now that she is in SNF her caregiver, who was the manager of the other caregivers, wants a bonus now that she is no longer employed. She either calls it a bonus or severance pay. DH is trying to negotiate with her. She wants $1700. However we feel that 1. It’s cheeky to ASK for a bonus. Isn’t it the employer’s choice to offer it, not be demanded to provide it? 2. We might feel more generous if we hadn’t had to contribute a large amount of our own money to keep Mom in her home and keep her caregivers employed.
What are your thoughts on this? Is she trying to take advantage of us? Thank you for your input. DH wants to do the right thing by her since she took care of Mom for 10 years.
She is hoping that you as the daughter will feel appreciative for all her work. I would tell her sorry we had to carry Mom till she was placed, we don't have it. As far as I know, there is no law saying u have to give 2 wks notice or supply severance. Let her try and collect unemployment. Mom was her employer not u. You can say you have no idea what agreement Mom had with her caregivers. You only saw her once a year. And again, Mom has no money.