Our caregiver is going to work for another agency. We would like to continue using her and are willing to hire this agency. Our “non compete” agreement prohibits direct hiring. As this is through another agency, am I correct in my assumption that this is not a direct hire? I don’t want any legal issues.
You then have the right to go to any other agency you want to go to any time you want to. YOU have no contract with anyone. The woman you like who works for one agency and is now switching is the one with contractural obligations and agreements. Unless you signed something with the agency agreeing not to hire someone who worked THROUGH them for yeah months you have no agreements with anyone, so read your own contract.
You are free to leave an agency and go with another without any explanation.
You will not be able to make an agreement up front that you will go with the new agency only if you can use that certain woman. Always read what you sign, and the same goes with anyone working for you; they should read what they sign.
I am not an elder law attorney, so pass this past one if you feel more comfortable doing so. It was what I was told in the past when my brother needed care.
We did this with hospice for my mom. Our favorite nurse told us that she was switching to another hospice provider and she took wonderful care of my mom. Mom loved her.
We switched to the hospice provider that she was going to work with so mom could stay with her. She was with mom until the very end of her life. It meant a lot to my mother and our family. She was an incredible nurse.
You can dump the agency you're currently using any time you want and you don't owe any explanation.
Set up the homecare with the new agency before you drop the old one's service though because you never know. Let your aide get established with the new agency before you go over to them because she may not work out with them.
In the meantime, hire her for a little while for cash pay. Who has to know?
No one has to know but someone might and that could cause a problem to the care provider. Hiring her for cash is a direct hire. This is what the hiring person needs to avoid.
I agree, the current agency is not owed any explanation.
Their relationship / contract is with the caregiver.
A client can cancel a care agency at any time and use whatever one they want. A care agency not have any say over about where former employees go or who they work for.
Once someone gets their last paycheck they are done witht that employer.
Here the aide is working for a different agency so she works by their rules. Not her former employer's.
If she wants to take some side work in cash that's not her former or current employer's business.
She is not doing this.
She is working with a new agency and anyone needing caregiver services can sign up with as many agencies as they wish.
This writer is paying the new agency (or will be soon) - not the caregiver.
You are confusing a direct hire with paying/working through an agency - who pays the caregiver(s).
I don't see any problem with being able to switch agencies, though, and requesting her. Both of u need to read contracts you signed.
This "no compete clause" maybe on its way out. It started to protect big business taking employees away from each other. Ex: a chemist working for a large Chemical company where his work is owned by that company. He is then offered lots if money to work for another Chemical Company. By taking that job, they are taking their knowledge and knowledge of their former company and giving that knowledge to the new company that is a competitor of the old company. So in comes the "no compete clause". You can see in this situation, that secrets maybe given out.
Why did my daughter need a no compete clause working for a sub-contractor for a Woundcare unit. When the contractor was fired, she was asked to keep running the unit. She couldn't. Did they send her to another unit? No, completely different job. So why the clause. She knew no secrets a Woundcare unit is a Wound care unit. She should have been able to take that job.
It comes down to, we should be able to work for whomever we want and employers should be able to hire whomever they want.
A direct hire is when you pay the caregiver directly with cash or a check.
One agency doesn't need to know if or how many other agencies you are registered with . . . although some may have the ... to ask you as this is a very competitive market.
If you stop using the current agency (and switch), tell the current agency you are re-evaluating your needs and will get back to them. You do not owe them anything or any explanation.
Certainly do not waste your money paying an attorney for this.
Gena / Touch Matters.
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