Hire Assistant Caregivers to Help Out?

[momofsix]

Have any of you had to hire an assistant? I need one to maintain ratio for infants, and am wondering how you establish boundries for the assistant--this will be her place of work, yet it's also my home. What should my expectations be for her, especially regarding things like cleaning up, meal preparation etc? Before I had always hired my daughters to help me out, which worked out great, but they're on to bigger things now!
thank you for your help

[tinytotzdaycare]

helper

I have a full time assitant as well as a summer helper

My summer helper works just a few times a week during field trips and large projects..perfect for the colleg student.

My full time assitant has been with me for 5 years

I pay her cash....YES CASH! She doesnt claim it on taxes and it saves me A LOT of paperwork. I cant claim it as an expense BUT she is wonderful and our system works. I pay her slightly less since she doesnt pay taxes but she still makes a great wage and I give her pd vacation/sick days/holidays. She has 1 child that comes her and he comes for FREE as well!

[Chickenhauler]

I have a full time assitant as well as a summer helper

My summer helper works just a few times a week during field trips and large projects..perfect for the colleg student.

My full time assitant has been with me for 5 years

I pay her cash....YES CASH! She doesnt claim it on taxes and it saves me A LOT of paperwork. I cant claim it as an expense BUT she is wonderful and our system works. I pay her slightly less since she doesnt pay taxes but she still makes a great wage and I give her pd vacation/sick days/holidays. She has 1 child that comes her and he comes for FREE as well!

I shudder whenever I see this......being that you're paying her in cash, how are you handling such things as workman's comp? If she were ever to get injured on the job, things could get ugly.....like "lose everything you have" ugly.

You can try to declare her an "independant contractor", but I doubt you'd be successful, as you supply the location, time, materials, and allot the hours. The paid time off is a red flag anytime that status is brought up.

[tinytotzdaycare]

I shudder whenever I see this......being that you're paying her in cash, how are you handling such things as workman's comp? If she were ever to get injured on the job, things could get ugly.....like "lose everything you have" ugly.

You can try to declare her an "independant contractor", but I doubt you'd be successful, as you supply the location, time, materials, and allot the hours. The paid time off is a red flag anytime that status is brought up.

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Just to clarify which I should have done before.....she is my sister and the summer fill in is also a family member so workmans comp is not an issue. My sister has insurance and b/c she is my sister I know she wouldnt make a claim against my daycare EVER.

I do understand what you are saying, and if it wasnt for her being family I would do as you are suggesting and do it the other way, but this works for me and my sister prefers it this way as well.

I do have homeowners insurance as well as an extra daycare policy as well, this also covers my sister and my cousin (summer helper). I pay my sister $15 an hour cash and this works for her, she prefers it this way.

Guess it is really on a case by case basis....if you are hiring someone that you dont know or have an question you should most definately HIRE HER AND CLAIM IT AND HAVE WORKMANS COMP ECT.

[SimpleMom]

That's great that you have someone to help out!! I would LOVE to hire someone FT/or PT even. The wages here are not high though for one I can't afford to do it and another is that I haven't been able to find anyone I trust that's willing to do it.

I bet that helps out so much, though

[Chickenhauler]

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Just to clarify which I should have done before.....she is my sister and the summer fill in is also a family member so workmans comp is not an issue. My sister has insurance and b/c she is my sister I know she wouldnt make a claim against my daycare EVER.

I do understand what you are saying, and if it wasnt for her being family I would do as you are suggesting and do it the other way, but this works for me and my sister prefers it this way as well.

I do have homeowners insurance as well as an extra daycare policy as well, this also covers my sister and my cousin (summer helper). I pay my sister $15 an hour cash and this works for her, she prefers it this way.

Guess it is really on a case by case basis....if you are hiring someone that you dont know or have an question you should most definately HIRE HER AND CLAIM IT AND HAVE WORKMANS COMP ECT.

I wouldn't be so much worried about your sister, but HER insurance.

Insurance companies are always looking for a reason to weasel out of paying a claim, and one of their favorites is "It's not OUR responsibility, it's the other insurance co's responsibility".

If she ever does get injured, make very, very sure that she never mentions the words "work", "Pay" etc.

Your daycare policy may have provisions in their for the coverage of occasional assistants....IDK, every policy is different.

[tinytotzdaycare]

I wouldn't be so much worried about your sister, but HER insurance.

Insurance companies are always looking for a reason to weasel out of paying a claim, and one of their favorites is "It's not OUR responsibility, it's the other insurance co's responsibility".

If she ever does get injured, make very, very sure that she never mentions the words "work", "Pay" etc.

Your daycare policy may have provisions in their for the coverage of occasional assistants....IDK, every policy is different.

Our insurance policy does cover assistants as well, HOWEVER only 1 assitant may be present at any given time...this I am glad I found out b/c I didnt know! Thanks for making the point