Many of our customers have in home care. These workers may provide companion care, other workers may run errands for our customers and still other workers are housekeepers. The care is often paid for by cash or check. But what is your legal relationship to these workers? Have these workers been properly vetted? Are the individuals properly insured? What happens if the worker steals something from your house? What happens if they fall in your house? What happens if they use your car and are in a traffic accident?
If any of these things happen, you can be held liable. These workers can also be considered to be your employees and you will be held liable for unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, withholding taxes and Social Security taxes?
What should you do? You should only hire workers through a properly insured and vetted agency. Such workers should clearly be described as our customer’s contractors. And these workers must be covered by unemployment compensation programs, worker’s compensation, liability insurance and they should be subject to the payment of all taxes.