TYYoung63 Asked March 4, 2025
How long after terminating a contract with an agency, can I hire their employee?
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I hired a caregiver for my mom through an agency but I would like to personally hire her outside of the agency and pay her directly. The agency contract states that I can not hire an employee unless I pay $1,100 or the annual salary of the employee (which ever is greater). But what the contract does not say is how long after terminating my contract with them can I hire that caregiver.
My question is, If the contract does not specifically state any time frame after contract termination, can I legally hire the caregiver?
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Hope this helps!
Side note,
There may be a way to google this for your state labor laws as well, or to get an attorney to answer this via a phone or zoom call. I can find the following online just with a moment's search:
"The duration of non-compete agreements commonly ranges from six months to one year, although there are instances where they extend beyond this timeframe. Employees should consult with a legal professional before signing or refusing to sign a non-compete agreement upon resignation. If you find yourself bound by a non-compete agreement, consider strategies to break free from its constraints. You are not required to sign a non-compete after the employment relationship ends if you didn't sign one."
Best of luck.
If paying cash you are at risk.
We paid legal, direct pay, taxes taken out, SS, workers comp etc but two of our caregivers worked for another family who paid them cash. The IRS found out.
The family that hired them and paid cash had to pay back taxes and had to pay a $6000 penalty to the government for not legally paying workers.
Before going into business I was a homecare worker for 25 years (both agency-employed and pivately hired). I worked privately for many clients who I started off with being employed by a homecare agency. This also led to friends of friends who had loved ones needing care and so on. I did this for 25 years. If everyone is discreet it works out. Don't panic over it or let anyone scare you. I lived this life for a long time, so I know how it's done.
You can easily get around any agency rules and should. If you've found a good caregiver, you're lucky. Keep her on however you can. I'm literally telling you how to do this.
If you're worried about the former homecare agency coming after you for money, don't be. If you're going to be paying this caregiver privately, that arrangement stays private even if you're withdrawing taxes for her and everything. The former homecare agency has no access to your tax records or spending history.
The only time they can see your records is if the court gets a subpeona. No judge in the world is going to waste their time with that nonsense. Also, the employee does not have to explain to the homecare agency if she has a side-hustle making money. Back when I was agency-hired help a couple had a rule that you do not take employment with other homecare agencies while in their employ. So, I didn't. I took private work with their clients and outside people.
With my workers, if they get an opportunity to make a little extra on the side, I don't mind so long as it doesn't interfere with their schedule with the company. They know that if they're taking side work with a client or their friends and family that they're not insured by us during those hours if something happens to them or the clients. They are not to call the office for support if there's an emergency or something is wrong. They do not show up in the uniform of the company either because the side work isn't through me.
You'll be fine hiring this caregiver privately if everyone involved keeps it private.
if you live in a Right to Work state, for the prior employer to enforce this with former employee is somewhat difficult. But what the employer can do is place a very unflattering yet accurate description of the former employees actions. So employee is somewhat toast on getting another job with another agency or anyone who does a background check.
You, however, are a better target as this was a contract to provide care in a home, soooooooo there is home that a lien can be attached to if they take you to court and get a judgement against you. Judgement would be the contract $ + fees + attorney + court costs. Liens pose all sorts of problems….. makes mortgage co & homeowner insurance nervous, can’t easily sell the home. Unless you have the ability to wait out the drop off period - 7-10 years - for judgements.
something else that you should look into is what extra insurance coverage you need to have placed to have a caregiver coming into your home. That is a ? for your homeowners & auto agent to answer.
Do realize you are fully required to pay and file taxes for them as a household employee. They are not at all contract labor*. IRS is pretty clear as to this. So you have to do forms and filings. Personally I would highly HIGHLY recommend that you do an I-9 form as well.
*to be contract labor, they would need to have a real business that does this and provides the same type of services to others. It can be a self-employed biz using their SS# or an LLC with a FEIN, but there has to be beyond you as a client.
Personally, I would not hire them; I would stay using an agency. For a myriad of reasons, but biggest would be IF the caregiver themselves becomes ill and cannot work their set day; agency is the one who has to scurry about to find a replacement.
I did homecare for 25 years and am now in the business of it. Let me say, there is no need for such panic. For two reasons. If the homecare agency is small they aren't going to waste resources they cannot afford to chase down and bring an employee into court who has a side-hustle. If they're a big corporate chain homecare, it isn't worth their while to pursue such small potatoes and they don't. I'm speaking from experience being employed by both huge corporate-owned chain homecare agencies and small, independent boutique ones.
Do you think that a former client's family can't ruin the reputation of a homecare agency? They can and we all know it.
Also, you can have a private employee sign a disclaimer that they will not sue you if they get hurt on the job. The most any agency that I was employed by was ever liable for was $1,200. That was the highest dollar amount insurance figure. This meant $1,200 is a client's home burned to the ground, the caregiver was seriously injured, or the client was. A person hiring privately can also get this type of disclaimer made up for their privately-hired domestic emloyees and have them sign it. Then you put $1,200 in a bank account and leave it there and you're covered.
It might be anywhere from a few months to a year.
Have your caregiver check her employment packet that she/he got when hired.