Thread: Domestic help may kick up paper storm

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 739662.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 29, 2006

Domestic help may kick up paper storm

STELLA M. HOPKINS
shopkins@charlotteobserver.com

Growing concern about illegal immigrants highlights the landmines of hiring household workers -- whether or not they're legal.

Those workers can include your aging parent's caretaker, your child's nanny, a gardener, maid, driver or handyman. They may qualify as your employee, which means you need identification documents, may have to pay employment taxes and may need worker's compensation insurance.

The nation's large illegal population compounds the potential problems for people with household help. Such positions often attract immigrants. Estimates of the nation's illegal population range from 10 million to 20 million, making it likely that some domestic employees are not authorized to work in the U.S. And it's against the law to hire an illegal immigrant -- although the practice is very common.

Federal officials are beefing up task forces intended to ferret out fugitive aliens, those who aren't obeying judges' orders to leave the country. Charlotte will be home to one of the 35 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teams. Tighter federal immigration legislation is pending as Congress wrestles with criticism of weak enforcement.

ICE, the Internal Revenue Service and other law enforcement aren't going door to door, hunting nannies who sneaked across the border and widows who aren't paying Social Security for their caregivers. But labor and immigration lawyers agree that immigration is a hot topic, which could draw unwanted attention to even individual employers.

"Most of the time the government goes charging after the big guys but occasionally the little guys get caught in the net," said Eileen Scofield, an Atlanta immigration lawyer with many N.C. clients. And these days, she added, "The radars are much more sensitive."

There are civil and criminal penalties for hiring illegal workers, but criminal prosecution is rare, typically reserved for repeat offenders clearly flouting the law, said David Izakowitz, a McGuireWoods immigration lawyer.

Scofield worries that, in the current environment, people hiring illegal workers might unfairly find themselves facing harsher charges such as harboring illegals. Izakowitz disagreed but said that counting on lax enforcement of immigration laws isn't a good idea.

"You may be sorry," he said.

Do You Have Household Workers?

The Observer asked four lawyers what to consider if you have household help.

Here are tips from Charlotte labor and employment lawyers Kim Cacheris with McGuireWoods and Richard Rainey with Womble Carlyle, and immigration lawyers David Izakowitz with McGuireWoods in Charlottesville, Va., and Eileen Scofield with Alston & Bird in Atlanta.

The IRS also has information available online at www.irs.gov. Search for "household employee" and also consult IRS Publication 926.

1. Determine whether you have what the IRS calls a "household employee." This is a gray area.

You do not have an employee if you contract with a lawn-care service that sends workers to mow and fertilize your grass. You might have an employee if you have someone working several days a week taking care of your yard, cleaning and driving you to the grocery. A key test of whether you have an employee is whether you direct and control when and how the person works for you. If you exercise control, the IRS says you have an employee, regardless of whether the person works full time.

2. If you have a household employee, you must complete the I-9 employment verification form, available online at www.uscis.gov or by calling (800) 870-3676. You need this regardless of nationality and citizenship status. You also must ask for identification from a long list of allowable documents, ranging from a U.S. passport and birth certificate to a driver's license and Social Security card. You're not required to determine the authenticity of the documents.

"If the documents look regular on their face, that's ... all you're required to do," Izakowitz said.

Doing more could bring a discrimination lawsuit, lawyers said.

3. If you have a household employee, you may have to pay Social Security and unemployment taxes. Check with the IRS or your accountant about wage thresholds and filing requirements.

4. Generally, you don't need worker's compensation insurance in North Carolina unless you have three or more employees. "Domestic servants" also are exempt, Cacheris said. But you might want to consider getting health insurance for people such as nannies, who work closely with you and your family, she said. There's no requirement to provide coverage, but some workers may demand it. And some people may provide it to help keep the worker healthy and reduce time off for illness or injury.

5. On the worker's compensation front, lawyers advise that you ask for evidence of insurance when you hire a company such as a remodeler to do work at your house. You are not the employer, but if a worker gets hurt, you could still end up with a big bill. Lawyers for the injured person "will come looking for a pot of money where they can find it," Rainey said. Homeowner's insurance may cover costs, and you may not be ultimately liable. But Rainey and Cacheris caution that you will still have time and money invested defending yourself.

By the way, it doesn't matter if the injured worker is illegal. They're still entitled to worker's comp payments, lawyers said.

"Just because someone is an illegal alien doesn't mean they don't have any rights in our legal system," Rainey said.


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Stella Hopkins: (704) 358-5173

I was interviewed for this article but she did not quote me about the other dangers of hiring illegal aliens and she did not mention the SAVE system.

Instead we get this printed which discourages people from questioning documents.

"If the documents look regular on their face, that's ... all you're required to do," Izakowitz said.

Doing more could bring a discrimination lawsuit, lawyers said.

W

I'm thinking that if employers actually start following the rules, I'm gonna buy stock in places like Merry Maids. I don't have household help t hese days but if I did, I wouldn't want to go through all the stuff and nonsense it would take for me to hire someone. I'd call a maid service and let them deal with all the paperwork.