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Discussion

What Needs to be Done?

I am an LPN working for a pediatric home health agency. My current patient and mom do a lot of traveling for different types of treatment, thus leaving me to find work elsewhere. Mom wants me to come and has been hinting about working for her privately. My questions are...

1. To your knowledge, is this a good idea?

2. What would I do about taxes?

3. What steps would I need to take to make sure everything I'm doing is legal both nursing & government?

**Great family, I don't have many reservations about this opportunity, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

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    This will put you in hot water with your agency, so be prepared to take the flak for it, or even to be let go, and if you signed a document stating there is a monetary penalty..... As far as working privately for the family, up to you. Make a written contract with them so there are no "surprises" down the road. You know that you are responsible for your own deductions, so investigate how to handle that. IRS is easy, every quarter you do estimated taxes. They have a pamphlet explaining it, or you can get the Pub 17 for more detail.

    To make things easier all the way around, why don't you just approach your agency about coverage for these trips? They will insist that the parents are responsible for your expenses. You will be paid by the agency for no more than one eight hour (or whatever designated by the 485) shift per day. I don't see any problem with this. Taxes, etc., still handled by the agency. You get paid by them for your efforts. If mom wants to engage you for more than your shift, she can pay out of pocket and the amounts involved will most likely not incur tax consequences (special est. tax pmts). Explore this option.

  • Quote
    I am an LPN working for a pediatric home health agency. My current patient and mom do a lot of traveling for different types of treatment, thus leaving me to find work elsewhere. Mom wants me to come and has been hinting about working for her privately. My questions are...

    1. To your knowledge, is this a good idea?

    2. What would I do about taxes?

    3. What steps would I need to take to make sure everything I'm doing is legal both nursing & government?

    **Great family, I don't have many reservations about this opportunity, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

    Thanks for your advice in advance.

    Bad idea. If kid goes in hospital, you're out of work. If mom changes her mine about you, you're out of work and not just a case.

    Taxes are your problem as well as insurance expenses. You're an LPN so you'll need an RN to do assessments and oversee things.

    Contact a lawyer about legal issues. We can't give legal advice here.

    Most agencies will let you travel with the pt. Don't forget you can't provide nursing in states you aren't licensed in. If this is about more money, change agencies and all the mom not to sign on unless you get a rate you want. If you signed a contact when you were hired, you may not be able to change agencies or work for the pt through another agency for a period of time. If you travel, find out if the hours are per day or week. If it's by the week, you can work the hours given to the agency if the agency will pay the OT.

    Some families seem great at first. But most are the same way. You won't have agency protection if things go wrong. And what does your family do when you are sick? You may need to share those hours so another nurse can cover you if you're sick.

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