Families often pay straight hourly wages to in home caregivers. But paying $18 an hour to a caregiver for a twelve hour shift may end up costing the family much more. As noted in a prior post, California law classifies in home caregivers as employees and they must be paid in accord with wage
In a recent post, we discussed the hazards, from a tax reporting perspective, of erroneously treating California caregivers as independent contractors as opposed to employees. If a caregiver is an employee (as is often the case), her employer also must comply with the various wage and hour rules that apply to the employment relationship.
Many elders and their families simply pay caregivers a straight hourly rate for 12 or 24 straight hours of work. This approach, though convenient, may set the stage for employment litigation against the elder. Below, we’ll discuss the two sets of rules that apply to California caregivers depending on the nature of their work – those who employ caregivers will need to pick the right set of rules and follow them.