Nurses in California kept Licenses

The state's Board of Registered Nursing has discovered that 3,5000 nurses have been punished for misconduct by other states, yet have maintained their licenses in the state of California. As many as 2,000 of these nurses will now face discipline in California. This is a perfect example of how important it is to run proper background checks on all your household help in all states where the individual has lived in the last 7 years. In the case of the nurses, most of the misconduct found was for the same incident.Before hiring any private nurse, you must check the "national databank". In California, until late 2008, the state did not require nurses to reveal whether they had been disciplined elsewhere. The risks of not checking can be serious. Here is the interesting part: "California has a financial incentive not to submit names its names. The state makes money by charging nurses a fee to verify their licenses, test scores and training when authorities in other states call for information. These sort of checks have netted California nearly $1 million in fiscal 2009".

The Professional Housekeeper

Becoming a Professional Housekeeper means: Being qualified through proper household training; Expanding your skill set into all areas of the home; Treating the role as a career not just a job; Developing good communication skills; Understanding how to solve nanny issues on the job in a professional manner; and learning new ways to be better at what you do so that you are indispensable. This Economy is tough, but it will turn around!! When it does, the question is are you prepared for that "job opportunity". What have you done to improve your skill set? Will you be the one that the family chooses to hire? We can always improve our nanny and housekeeping skills and be better at what we do!!!

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Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights passed by the New York State Senate earlier this month contains workplace protections for nannies, housekeepers and other domestic employees. Among the protections, families will be required to provide their household employees with the following: 6 paid holidays per year, 5 paid vacation days per year, 7 paid sick days per year, time and half after 8 hours of work each day, 2 weeks severance pay (or 2 weeks' written notice). All full time domestic workers will receive the same benefits regardless of immigration status or whether they are paid on the books. My experience working with clients in Los Angeles is that most employers are offering similar benefits (without a law imposed) simply because they want to do what others here are providing. However, it still seems an effort to get an employer to move away from "cash" to payroll and acknowledge the overtime rules accordingly.
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A Housekeeper Fell in My House! What do I do?

What happens when a housekeeper falls in your home and has a serious injury? First of all, here is another excellent reason why you should have all your household help on payroll. If someone is on payroll, and hurt on the job, they may suffer an injury that keeps them from working up to several weeks. At this point, in this case, this housekeeper could apply for temporary disability after going to a doctor and receiving clear evidence that there is a valid injury. She could also, if needed file a worker's compensation claim. But all this can only happen when you have your employee on payroll and the employer has properly obtained Worker's compensation insurance for that employee. Many homeowner policies will automatically offer a minimum of insurance for employees working on the premises (like housekeepers, nannies, companions or gardeners). However, you will need to check on your policy and inform the insurance company of who is working for you.

If this employee is NOT on payroll, then you are faced with the need to compensate her personally for the weeks she is unable to work in addition to paying all medical bills. This could get costly when in fact you may also need to hire someone to take her place when she is out injured.

Vetting-Barring Scheme

Omitting nannies from a new Government database for all those working with children leaves a dangerous loophole that compromises children's safety, the payroll service Nannytax has warned. They have launched a campaign to include nannies in the Vetting and Barring Scheme over fears that otherwise, pedophiles would be able to exploit the system. 'Once the VBS is in place, nanny positions will be the only opportunity for an individual to come into direct contact with children without having a police check.' More and more people, due to the economic crisis, are reverting to their own resources to find nannies instead of going through traditional routes. This makes it more and more of a concern. Decisions about whether nannies should be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults will be made by the Independent Safeguarding Authority. It would be best that all nannies, whether they are found or supplied by an agency or a family directly should be included. Parents would then be able to choose an ISA-registered nanny, if they wish and able to check the ISA registration. http://www.martaperrone.com

Wrongful Dismissal???

Heather Mills, formerly married to Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is being sued by her nanny for "constructive dismissal and sex discrimination" alleging that a replacement was brought in when she returned from maternity leave and was downgraded to cleaning duties. It gets stickier in that the nanny, Sara Trumble apparently asked for money to pay for a breast enlargement that Mills declined to give her. The nanny was already given 10,000 pounds by her Sir Paul McCartney upon leaving. (Mills and McCartney are divorced.) http://www.martaperrone.com

TAX NEWS

Breedlove & Associates, the leading company for in Household Taxes has just reported that the HIRE ACT that was signed on March 18, 2010 has some distressing news as it relates to household employers. The purpose of the bill is to encourage employers to create jobs for unemployed Americans; however, the definition of "employers" according to the IRS excludes household employers. Breedlove & Associates has appealed to the original sponsor of the bill to re-consider.For more specific assistance, contact info@breedlove-online.com

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