A Cautionary Tale
Every day, families face the decision of whether to hire a private individual as a caregiver, or work with a home care agency, such as M & M Home Care, when choosing a course for in-home care. Often, understanding the benefits of a home care agency, can be challenging.
This is the key difference: When you hire from a list of individuals, you may become the caregiver’s employer, and you might have to assume certain responsibilities, risks and liabilities.
Here are 10 tasks to anticipate as you consider whether you would want to take on that role:
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- Hiring
If you are working from a generic list of private individuals ,it is up to YOU to perform background checks, check references, and discuss duties, expectations, salary and experience—and then, to choose the caregiver whom you hope will meet your loved one’s needs and preferences.If you work with M & M Home Care, a professional home care agency, we will take care of all these steps and more. We will send a bonded, and insured caregivers who are matched to your family’s needs, selected from our own employees with whom we have a relationship. - Training
If you hire from some generic list of individuals, the caregiver may or may not have experience in providing care for a person with your loved one’s needs. There could be a steep learning curve, requiring much of your time—and you may not feel qualified to provide that training.M & M Home Care will send a worker who has received professionally developed training and understands your loved one’s needs, whether that be physical limitations, or dementia. If you have questions, you can always call us. - Supervision
Once you have hired a private caregiver, do you know that the services you hired the person to perform are being done, and correctly? When you hire through a list of individuals, it’s up to you to monitor the situation.Families generally experience greater peace of mind when M & M Home Care is supervising and evaluating the caregiver employees on an ongoing basis. M & M Home Care will also ascertain that the caregiver shows up for their shift and performs assigned tasks—this is an especially valuable plus when families live at a distance. - Payroll taxes
M & M Home Care takes care of payroll, including federal and state taxes, Social Security, Medicare and unemployment.If you hire from a list of individuals, you are responsible for understanding and complying with this often-confusing array of withholding taxes. And you might face civil fines and even criminal penalties if you are caught paying “under the table” without complying with tax laws. - Work-related injuries
Health care workers are at risk of injury, such as sprains and strains from lifting clients, automobile injuries and falls. What if the private caregiver you’ve hired is injured while in your home? As the employer, YOU COULD BE RESPONSIBLE for the caregiver’s medical bills and disability. Would your homeowner’s insurance cover this type of claim? In most cases, no: Homeowner’s policies usually exclude coverage for employees in the home.It’s much safer to work with M & M Home Care, a professional home care agency. We carry liability insurance and worker’s compensation for all our employees. - Backup
Even the most conscientious caregiver will miss a shift from time to time, due to illness or a personal emergency. What if your private caregiver quits on short notice? And what about those times when the caregiver is on vacation? Families may find themselves scrambling to cover their loved one’s care upon those occasions.M & M Home Care is equipped to provide a backup caregiver if your regular caregiver can’t make it—even at the last minute. - Discipline
What if the caregiver isn’t performing up to your expectations? What if he or she arrives late, misses shifts, or isn’t caring for your loved one as requested? If you hired from a list of private individuals, you are on your own—you have to have the talk and set penalties for not improving, which is unpleasant and uncomfortable for most people.But our caregivers are an employee of M & M Home Care, a professional agency. You can report problems to the manager so they can be handled in a less personal way. Agencies have a disciplinary system in place for helping the caregiver improve or, if it’s your preference, they will send a different worker. - Ensuring your loved one’s safety
It’s a subject families would rather not think about, but it’s important to know that every year unscrupulous, dishonest people abuse their position of trust to take advantage of vulnerable elders by stealing from, exploiting or even physically abusing them. Very few website registries perform background checks on the caregivers they list, and they are not allowed by law to supervise them—so if a caregiver you hire steals from your loved one, makes unauthorized charges with your loved one’s credit card or worse, you are on your own in dealing with law enforcement. This is a dicey situation when you’ve hired under the table!M & M Home Care performs Michigan State police criminal background checks and contact previous employers before hiring a caregiver; in the rare case that a caregiver does commit an illegal act, the agency will take responsibility and deal with law enforcement. - Termination
What if the caregiver isn’t meeting your expectations, or your loved one does not like the caregiver, or if it just doesn’t work out? Firing an employee is seldom pleasant. And there may be unemployment claims to deal with. But if your caregiver is employed by M & M Home Care, we will be able to provide you with a different caregiver. - Cost
When you’re first comparing prices, it might seem cheaper to hire a private individual. But don’t forget the hidden costs–and potential costs—of serving as your caregiver’s employer. You may need to pay an accountant or a law attorney to help with payroll and other human resources tasks. You may lose income when you must take time off from work to fill in when a caregiver doesn’t show up, or to deal with problems with the caregiver. And then there’s the possibility of hefty tax evasion penalties or even a personal injury lawsuit! Remember: You are paying a professional in-home care provider not only for the services of the caregiver, but also for an array of legal and human resources support tasks and protections.
- Hiring
At M & M Home Care, we offer a personal touch to providing home care for patients throughout the State of Michigan. Your family s needs are unique and you should have a home care agency that treats them that way. This is why we hire qualified and trusted caregivers to attend to your loved one’s needs like they are family.
At M & M Home Care you will find Exception Care… Exceptional People.
What Happens When... | M & M HOME CARE - A FULL SERVICE EMPLOYER | PRIVATE HIRES |
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Your worker's classification (as an employee or an independent contractor) comes into question by legal or tax authorities. | The caregiver is an employee of M & M Home Care. You have NO employer obligations. | In almost all cases, private hires are employees, not independent contractors. The private hire is therefore the family’s employee. In such a case, the family will be responsible for employer taxes, worker’s compensation insurance and other employer legal responsibilities. You are responsible for these costly and risky employer duties and obligations as if the workers were privately hired by you, even if they are from a registry or a referral agency. |
You no longer need help and you cancel your care giver. | The caregiver is reassigned to another case or can file for Unemployment Insurance benefits. M & M Home Care pays unemployment taxes to cover the cost when employees file for Unemployment Insurance benefits. You will have no liability or future ramifications. | The private hire files for Unemployment Insurance benefits. The family as the worker's employer is required to pay unemployment taxes while the worker is working for you. If you have not done this, the state and federal tax authorities may come to you for back payments and penalties. |
The care giver gets hurt on the job. | M & M Home Care pays for Workers Compensation insurance and is responsible for medical costs and disability pay. | As the private hire’s employer, you are required to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. If you fail to do so, you are responsible for paying the employee’s medical costs. Additionally, failing to have workers' compensation coverage is a criminal offense.It a misdemeanor punishable by either a fine or jail. Additionally, the state can issue penalties of up to $100,000 against illegally uninsured employers. |
The caregiver accidentally causes harm to you or your property. | M & M Home Care is required to carry liability insurance to provide coverage for the loss. | The private hire typically does not provide insurance coverage to cover any actions made. You will be responsible for the loss. |
The caregiver gets sick and requests paid sick leave. | M & M Home Care can send a replacement caregiver to cover the shift. | The private hire does not receive any sick pay. They may be forced to come to work ill. The family as the private hire's employer, is required to accrue and pay sick pay to its employee. You are also responsible for finding care while the caregiver is out sick. |
Your caregiver does something you don’t like and you want a resource to go to. | M & M Home Care is responsible for the acts of its workers and accountable to you. | You are on your own in supervising your employee. |
The caregiver works more than 40 hours in a week. | M & M Home Care must abide by all labor laws and pay the worker an overtime premium for his or her overtime hours. | You responsible for your compliance with labor laws regarding the private hire’s time. You are responsible to know and comply with all applicable labor laws and pay the private hire accordingly, including overtime. |
You wonder whether the caregiver has received worker training. | M & M Home Care provides training at time of hire and hours of training every year after that. | The private hire is not responsible to provide or ensure any training. |
The caregiver have to file their income tax return. | M & M Home Care withholds all the worker’s applicable payroll taxes. You are not responsible for those taxes nor for providing W-2 forms. | As the private hire's employer, you are responsible for withholding the worker’s applicable payroll taxes, paying household employer taxes and filing W-2 forms |