Background

A client in Texas , Jane,  hired a home care worker to help her mother around the house, an important hire to help her mom live safely and independently at home. Jane’s mother lives alone and has recently had to give up her driver’s license due to health issues. She needs someone to help her get out to meet her friends, get to doctor appointments and help with groceries and errands. She also has some housekeeping areas she can no longer safely do herself.

Many, many nannies and senior caregivers have a routine work week that exceeds 40 hours a week. Presuming that the employment situation is long term, most families agree to specific paid holidays. Exactly how does a paid holiday impact the weekly overtime calculation?

If an employer withholds federal taxes from an employee (income and/or FICA) they must be remitted to the IRS timely. If not, you can face hefty penalties and the IRS can come after individual people in a corporation.

Nannies and babysitters – a lot of people use these terms interchangeably, but they in fact are quite different. While it is true that both provide similar services – taking care of children in a parent’s absence – there are some important reasons why there are significant differences between a nanny and a babysitter.

Life can be difficult at times and when there are difficult conversations to be had, you may feel at a loss on what to say or how to say it. Whether it’s talking to your kids about a family member being sick, someone losing an important job, or there is a divorce on the horizon, its best to work together with your nanny to help your kids process emotions and come out well at the end of the situation. Here are some tips on how nannies and parents can work together in difficult times.

Employee incentive plans are a great way to motivate staff and help foster overall organizational growth. Sometimes they are pretty simple, but they can get complex and troublesome quickly. Here are some things to think about to start from a solid foundation.

Kids look forward to having a break from attending school, but for parents and nannies this can sometimes pose a bit of a challenge. Nannies can alleviate the boredom that kids sometimes face during school breaks. Whether the school holiday is a week or two months, the breaks need to be planned for ahead of time. Here are some tips for planning for school breaks so it is fun for both the parents and the kids. 

The tax year 2018 audit stats are out and the IRS has revealed that fewer taxpayers were selected for audits than in prior years. That doesn’t really matter though if you are one of the unlucky few! Also, things like not paying household employment taxes increase your risk of an audit. Let’s take a look at some numbers and strategies everyone can use.

If you have decided to hire a household employee, you may be researching the details involved. One of the most important things you will have to do is negotiate a fair wage and understand the taxes and benefits involved with adding someone to the payroll each month. Here are some tips on how to negotiate pay rates and benefits.

You’ve hired a household employee and now it is time to hammer out the details about the work arrangement. You can talk about the details first, but it is important to let that just be the beginning of it. Everything that you have discussed should be solidified in a written work agreement. This makes things simpler in the event that any question or confusion arises later down the road during your employee’s time working for you. Here are some tips on why the details in a written work agreement are important to have.