What should the paying schedule be for occasional fill in aides?
We use a payroll service to pay our regular 24/7 live in aide. Occasionally (every few months or so) our regular aide takes off a weekend day or 2 and we use a fill in aide placed with us from our registry agency. They are strictly a placement agency and do not pay the aide(s), we do. For these situations our policy has always been for me to send the covering aide a check, mailed directly to their home asap. In most cases it is mailed on the very day they complete their day or two shift . (I do not live with my mom, and I am usually working on the days that the covering aide actually leaves mom's home.) I prefer to write the check out after doing all the proper calculations, reimbursing the aide for taxi cabs in some cases, etc. This avoids the main aide having to deal with all this upon her return to mom's house. In one case when I had one aide write out a check to another aide for me it caused an argument between the 2 of them. Bottom line: as the employer I prefer to do it myself for many reasons. I also keep mom's check ledger here in my house so I can record everything immediately. While most of the fill ins are very understanding to wait the 1-2 day for mail delivery I have occasionally encountered a few that insist on immediate payment before leaving mom's house despite my explaining we have a 7 year history with the agency and have never NOT paid an aide. My mom has vascular dementia and sundowner's syndrome and can no longer write out checks. The few blank checks we do keep in her house are strictly for urgent situations where a plumber might have to paid, etc. Has anyone encountered this situation? I feel there should be some consideration of the client/employer's situation. 2 days mail does not seem like an unreasonable period of time to wait for payment. I get paid twice a month at my job. Any thoughts or suggestions? Before speaking with our agency on this I was curious what the norm is out there for this particular type situation. We are in LI, NY.
Using a payroll service is great for the live-in, well worth the cost.
Now I am really surprised that your live-in caregiver only takes off a weekend every few months. Taking care of someone who has Alzheimer's/Dementia is very exhausting work, with very little sleep. She must have a lot of energy. But don't be surprised if your live-in Aide doesn't ask for more time off.
When my Dad needed 24/7 care, I used a regular Agency where Dad had 3 caregivers each day, each one taking an 8 hour shift. Yes, very expensive. Eventually Dad moved to senior living, which cut the cost in half. And he was happier there as he was around people of his own generation :)
On another note, may I ask if your Mom has a "workman's comp" rider on her homeowner's insurance? That is very important in case a caregiver, who is an employee, gets hurt on the job. If she doesn't have it, check into this ASAP.