Courtesy of Minding Our Elders

Dear Carol: My dad has vascular dementia and it’s getting hard to leave him alone. We’ve had some in-home care people come in to help, and we’re considering assisted living. However, the daughter of a friend is a certified nursing assistant who is not currently working for any agency. We’ve thought about hiring her to help on a daily basis. My wife likes the idea, but I think I’ve read where that can lead to legal problems. - Jack

Dear Jack: I’ve addressed this subject before, but I get so many questions asking about whether this is a good idea, I thought it was time to write another column about it.

The good side, for you, is that you personally know the person you want to hire. This is important. Good agencies do background checks on their employees, and I always advise people to get several references from the agency just for extra insurance.

You may have this covered, but you may not. How long have you known your friend’s daughter? If you’ve been friends for decades and have known this woman since she was a child, you’ve got a good start. If this is a fairly new relationship, then there may be things you don’t know, but should. In that case, she may as well be a stranger.

Here are some other important issues that people need to consider. If you don’t know the person well, you should do a background check. Are you comfortable doing this? If the potential employee has references, that helps. You need to check these references, just as you would if you hired an agency. However, a good agency will have done a criminal background check, verified the person’s skill level and may even do drug screenings.

Also, an agency provides backup for when the caregiver is ill and supervision should he or she face a situation that is unfamiliar. A lone employee may not have that to offer.

Even if you are completely comfortable about all of these issues with your friend’s daughter, there are legal issues to consider.

When you are the employer, you need to pay into Social Security for your employee. You may be responsible for workers’ compensation payments and you’d definitely want to be insured for liability in case the worker is hurt while caring for your dad.

You can find more information on the IRS Web site on independent contractors versus employees. You would also be wise to check with your state’s Department of Labor, so you know you are complying with state law. None of this means you should not hire this woman. She may be the very best option possible and work out extremely well. It’s just that you need to be aware that when you hire someone independently, you may become the employer and you need to be prepared to deal with what that entails. If you aren’t up to that, I’d stick with an in-home care agency or consider assisted living. - Carol