So a couple of months ago I met this woman at a job orientation, she walked up to me and asked me who I was. I introduced myself yadda yadda. We exchanged numbers as friends and chatted a bit and I told her a bit about my life story and how I've been rasing myself since 16 due to my aunt passing away and life has been very difficult for me. Been moving place to place etc. It's been a struggle. One day I asked her if she knew anyone who was renting out a room for rent. She said currently her mom needs a live in caregiver to help with her husband with parkinsons. I said I'd be the man for the job. I FaceTime the mom meet the husband. Send her my credentials ans stuff, Schedule a training day pass it . Get paid for that day. Maybe a week later I move in and began working on Sat and Sun. I sign a for stating the house rules no smoking , lights out before etc. That's the only thing I sign. Weeks go by and I notice that she hasn't paid me again. She said that I don't get paid at all. I'm exchanging my work for a place to stay. I've never agreed to that. I never signed anything stating that. I live in California and it says if your work as a live in CG and receive no pay that's considered indentured servitude aka slavery. Even though I didn't sign a document stating anything, can I still sue them?? I'm kind of scare because i literally have no where to go. I've been surviving for years and I'm tired. I thought this would be the place where I'd get my life together and here they are using me. Even the woman who I met and introduced me is guilt tripping me saying "Well you should've asked about the details before coming." Not only that the grandmother took my social security info and has me write my hours on a sheet labeled "Independent Contractor." How am I an IC? I don't have a business off site from the job site. I should be labeled as an employee. I'm getting no pay, no benefits, I'm around hazardous material (poo/pee). These people live in a mansion and just can't pay me for the 2 days I work a week??? What do I do??? I need help because I feel like at anytime they can just kick me out. It's unfair.....
My advice is to get whatever supplies you need to live there a month. Then just live there while contacting tenany
ts rights and so forth.
They will have to evict through the housing court, but if it's an under-the-table arrangement the OP cannot prove when they started working or when their employment ended.
What do you do M-F?
So why is it ok for a caretaker to work without pay.
That's slavery
When the wages are paid, the caregiving resumes.
I think an Attorney would find that payment would have been part of the work thereafter since the family paid you for the "training day". Did they pay you by check or in cash. Hopefully by check and your bank has a copy of said check. If by cash, there would be no proof. The first red flag would have been that there wasn't any Employment Contract for you to review and sign if accepted.
Time to pack up and leave, go to a homeless shelter if you cannot stay with someone in the mean time. If you stay and don't work the weekends, I would be concerned that an "eviction notice" may be recorded in public records and found when someone does a background check on you for employment or rental placement.
Free room and board is considered part of a worker's wages but it does bot replace actual wages.
You asked if the woman knew of a room for rent, the woman said that her Mom needed a caregiver. So I take that as caring for the husband pays your rent is how its being looked at. Working weekends gives you the opportunity to find a full-time job during the week. You can save that money to afford to move into a place of your own and get some savings under your belt. In this scenario, that would work. I don't see this as slavery since you have 5 full days off. Not sure if you have been duped or you should have confirmed what was involved in the job. You should have asked for a contract outling your duties and pay.
As I see it, you have a roof over your head and the option to get full-time employment. I see this as tit for tat. If you get F/T employment, yes you will be working 7 days a week but you will be saving your salary so you can have a place of your own, some money in the bank. Look at the full picture. This could be look as your "step up". A F/T job will give u benefits.
Free room and board is not a replacement for actual wages, and yes, the IRS does recognize independent contractors of homecare to be self-employed. I know this because I did for a long time. People who are independent housekeepers, landscapers, handymen, etc... fall in the same pile as caregivers.
If wages were agreed upon by the client and/or whoever hired the OP, then those wages must be paid.
Since the place is your official residence they can't just throw you out. So squat there until you find somewhere else to go.
Don't worry about being around any hazardous material (piss and sh*t) because as of today you do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for these people. This means you LITERALLY do NOTHING. I mean don't even walk across the room to piss on one of them if they are on fire. When the client 'poops' themselves, you do nothing. Not until your wages are paid. Someone else will have to clean them up.
Some people may call this cruel, I call it being on strike. When the wages get paid the caregiving work resumes and not a minute before.
My friend, I was a caregiver for 25 years. Many of those years were private employment. Clients who tried to get cute with me by withholding my pay learned the hard way that I don't bluff or play games. You shouldn't either. I got paid what I was owed or I walked away from the 'loved one', I never lost a moment's sleep over it either.
You can never allow clients or their representatives to get away with not paying. No matter how much you may like them, or how needy the client is.
No pay. No work. It's as simple as that because it has to be in this kind of work. Otherwise you're going to get hustled and taken advantage of.
A word of advice though. Don't take live-in positions. Never make a client's home your residence because it gives the client and family too much power and they will often treat you like a slave.
One of the members of this group a couple of weeks ago commented that in the state of California domestic servants (which caregivers actually are) and some other types of workers who are working 'under-the-table' aka being paid in cash actually have workers' rights. I will not voice my opinion on what I think about that. This is why I'm telling you to go to the Labor Department in your state and tell them what these people are doing.
Find somewhere else you can go. I know it's tough out there, but surely you have a friend or someone you can stay with until you find another job and some permanent housing. As for these POS's that you work for now. Don't let them get away with it. Talk to the Labor Department.