Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

What are the risks with providing my mother's (who has alzheimers) caregiver a notarized letter that states that the caregiver is employed by us and stating how much money the caregiver had made in the last 90 days?

Background: the caregiver was found on Care.com, we don't have a contract or any written agreement with this woman. We pay her by personal check every week. I have power of attorney for my mom and I am on my mom's checking account (joint account holder, but it is her money). Apparently the caregiver is about to lose her house and she is working to keep it. i am just concerned that she may try to pull a scam or there is some sort of fraud or she may say she fell and try to pull workmans comp or something else I may not be aware of. I may sound paranoid, but I work in HR and I have seen a lot of crazy things/people. This is the first caregiver we have had for my mom so I am new to this. We live in Illinois.


Asked on 2/18/13, 8:07 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

She is or most likely will be treated for tax purposes a household employee, and if you are paying her wages you need to withhold payroll taxes and remit them to the government. If you are not doing so you could become liable for them if she fails to pay them. What she is asking for, however, seems to be pretty standard, which is a verification of employment, so that perhaps she can find a new mortgage loan or renegotiate the one she has. If this is a legit request she should be able to provide you with the name and address of the lender or prospective lender, or a form of employment verification provided for the lender. But beware the tax issue.

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Answered on 2/21/13, 12:42 pm


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