Caretaker Agreement Template for the United States

Classification follows how the work is actually controlled rather than the label in the document, and someone working set hours in your home under your direction generally looks like an employee. Getting it wrong affects tax withholding, overtime, and insurance, so describe the real arrangement in the agreement and pay on that basis. The cost of a wrong call lands on the household rather than the worker, in the form of back wages, unpaid employment taxes and penalties. Record who sets the schedule, who supplies equipment, whether the caretaker works for others, and who may send a substitute.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, domestic service employees who reside in the household where they work are exempt from federal overtime, although minimum wage still applies to all hours worked (29 CFR 552.102). Several states require overtime for domestic workers regardless, and a third party employer such as a home care agency cannot claim the federal companionship services exemption. Whether a worker counts as residing in the household turns on the pattern of nights spent there, so record the arrangement the parties actually intend. Read the current text of the regulation rather than older summaries, particularly where an agency employs the worker.

For a live-in worker, employer and employee may agree in writing to exclude sleep time, meal periods, and other stretches of complete freedom from all duties, and the agreement should record that understanding. Keep a record of hours actually worked, including interruptions overnight, because the exclusion does not cover time when duties resume. In practice that means a simple log the caretaker completes and the household countersigns, covering start and finish times and any night-time calls. Without one, a later dispute about unpaid hours is decided on the worker's account of what happened rather than on the household's.

Put the notice period and the move-out date in the agreement, and state whether the accommodation ends with the role or continues as a tenancy. In many states an occupant who has become a tenant must be given formal notice and cannot be removed by changing the locks. Set out who removes belongings, when keys are returned, and what happens to the room if the caretaker is dismissed rather than leaving voluntarily. Where the caretaker's family also lives there, name them in the agreement, since their position is otherwise unclear at the point the role ends.

Yes, and they are often more demanding. Several states have domestic worker protections covering rest days, paid leave, and written terms, and state law governs workers' compensation, state-level household employment taxes, and any licensing needed for personal care work. Check the rules of the state where the caretaker works. Homeowner insurance is the gap households find late, since many policies exclude injury to a household employee and a separate endorsement or a workers' compensation policy is needed instead. Ask your insurer in writing whether a live-in employee is covered before the arrangement starts.