When does a job becomes less important than a life? Mostly a vent but don't mind a jump in.

[diabeticman]

As may know my wife is a home health aide. She loves her job for the most part I personally don't know how she puts up with half the stuff she does. She works long hours some day and other days very short days. it is amazing how the scheduler can't give her 40 hours for a work week in a 5 day period. 9 times out of 10 it is 6 days a week AND one day may be AN 11 hour day than a 4 hour day. I think it is bullshit but she said this is a way a lot of companies work.


HERE is my big deal: We are going to get hit again with 3 to 7 inches tomorrow. Wife got saddled with another 11 hour day and 4 clients one of which she will see 2 times during the day and it isn't just in town travel she as to go 12 miles out of town twice tomorrow to a VERY rural area.

She trying to explain to me she has to go to help these people BUT when does her life become important. Not just her life but her fellow workers.

And what pisses my wife off and has me upset as well is the person who makes the schedule doesn't live in this county NOR when she did have to travel to work in the area she NEVER bothered to get a feel for the town or if she did doesn't care. She will schedule people all over the town instead of saying I will have worker A work with these 5 people in the north section of town and worker B work with these 3 people on east side. This scheduler who may have two employees work the same amount of hours work crazy hours. Worker A may get 10 hours going back and forth from one end of town to another so with travel time that person is dealing with a 14 hour day while worker B is dealing with 1 hour in the middle of the day.

Makes no sense. But my worry is that the roads may not be the best since the town ran out of salt not to mention with snow fall and blowing snow she may be dealing bad driving condition add to this the person who use to run the office now does does marketing and the people now in charge don't seem to care and they are in a different county than we live and have argued with other workers that they are watching radar they don't see snow BUT a worker has sent them pictures of her snow cover car.

I told her to find another place to work but it seems this attitude is par per course.

[truedelphi]

1. Don't know how to help you keep her out of the immediate snow storms,

But why not print up some business cards and get them handed over to church leaders, community organizers, and any other word of mouth situation you can think of.

If you do private hire, you get paid more and can set up regular hours. That is the way it works.

It also is a good idea if your wife goes this route, that she teams up with someone else. That way, if she is hired to oversee an elderly person in their home,she can take a day or two off each week, and her client has the other person there on your wife's days off..

[murielm99]

2. Wouldn't she then have liability concerns?

Could she get sued if someone died or was injured during her service? Is there insurance available to private hire home health aides?

[truedelphi]

3. She might ask her insurance agent about that.

In my viewpoint, it is advisable to be bonded. You can get into some dicey situations about property, if any property goes missing. Being bonded can help out.

[Habibi]

4. Yes, and tax concerns.

Unless things have changed in the 3 years since I investigated this myself, the IRS doesn't consider home health aides to be "independent contractors"--because they don't direct the work they do, and they don't use their own tools and equipment to do the work. So the caregivee could conceivably be on the hook for employment taxes. And if they do it under the table, as many do, the caregiver could be on the hook for unreported income if the IRS finds out about it.

YMMV by state, though.

[CreekDog]

5. I wish you the best. Nice to meet you and your husband

You're an amazing couple. Neither of you uses commas. It's great to have things in common.

I think the government programs should help the folks you described and folks like you too. Our programs in the USA are far too limited. In Canada and Europe, social programs are stronger and more generous and the effects of poverty are far, far less in those places.

Best to you both.