8 Reasons not to Hire a Caregiver “Under The Table”
When it comes to in-home care, you have choices, and hiring a friend or family member may seem cost-effective. However, this approach comes with significant risks:
Background Checks: You're responsible for vetting caregivers, potentially exposing your loved one to incompetent care, elder abuse, or financial exploitation.
Care Assessment: You must determine your loved one's care needs from scratch and create a care plan to address them.
Training: Ensuring the caregiver's competence, like safe wheelchair transfers, becomes your responsibility.
Payroll and Taxes: Handling payroll, taxes, and compliance with wage laws can lead to legal issues if not managed properly.
Injuries: If a caregiver gets injured, you might be liable for medical expenses, workman's compensation claims, or lawsuits, and your home insurance may not cover it.
Liability: Protecting against fraud, theft, abuse, or financial exploitation becomes challenging.
Backup Care: Finding replacements for missed shifts or emergencies is your responsibility, leading to potential disruptions in care.
Discipline and Termination: Addressing caregiver performance issues, including missed shifts, late arrivals, or suboptimal care, falls on your shoulders.
Hiring through a reputable agency shifts most employer responsibilities away from you. Agencies handle recruitment, screening, training, supervision, payroll taxes, and HR tasks. Caregivers from agencies are bonded, insured employees. They match caregivers to your family's needs and provide backup support when required. Agencies also handle caregiver switches smoothly, ensuring the best fit for your loved one without added drama or stress.
This article is for informational purposes only, even if and regardless of whether it features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the expert and do not necessarily represent the views of Care We Trust..
