I recently met with a group of Geriatric Care Managers (GCM) to learn more about how they help their aging clients, and to brief them on upcoming changes to payroll laws that impact senior care.

Many household employers agree with their caregiver - whether this be a nanny, senior caregiver or other - on a set wage per week for a certain number of regular hours. This is common, and fine, yet a household employer who fails to translate this weekly wage into an hourly rate can open themselves up to costly wage and hour disputes. This is the last thing you want to be involved in, as wage and hour lawsuits are expensive. President Obama's initiative to protect workers from unpaid overtime means the US Department of Labor is adding 300 more investigators, and household employers will be even more at risk for getting caught.

I am the youngest of six and learned many lessons of ‘what not to do’ from watching my siblings. I observed to the owners of HWS the other day, after taking a client call, that we fix the same problems over and over for different clients. Knowledge is power even when the knowledge comes from seeing the mistakes of others.

I want to share with you my top 5 mistakes your ‘employer’ siblings have done before you so that you can learn ‘what not to do’.

The May/June time frame is a busy one for nanny hiring. Whether you are hiring a summer-only nanny or a year-round nanny, nanny screening is absolutely critical. This nanny can be the most important hire of your life, and your child depends on you exercising due diligence. 

I worked with a new client who had just hired a housekeeper to help her dad around the house. Her father needed help at home - laundry, cooking and just general homemaking services. A recent widower, he had never been terribly involved in household management according to his daughter, and it was getting away from him. My client was referred to an experienced senior homemaker who was looking for work through word of mouth, and she and her brother agreed to privately hire the housekeeper to help Dad several days a week.

Last Friday, HWS' Client Care Manager Mary Crowe took a phone call that went along these lines:

"Safe Today. Healthy Tomorrow."

Americans over the age of 60 are the single largest demographic group in the country, surpassing children 18 and younger for the first time on record. Today's seniors express a marked preference for aging in place, defined by the Center for Disease Control as "the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level."

New York City's paid sick leave act went into effect April 1, 2014. This does apply in a limited manner to domestic service workers, such as a nanny, housekeeper or senior caregiver.

According to Merriam-Webster, "The Sandwich Generation" is defined as a generation of people who are caring for their aging parents while supporting their own children. I define The Sandwich Generation as 90% of my friends. The Sandwich Generation has very full plates between being successful professionals by day and stressed out parent and adult daughter/son by night.  Trying to keep all the balls in the air is challenging and can be draining.