I worked as a private caregiver for 10 years until she passed away. For that 10 years, I never took any annual leave and they never paid me for it. I did not even receive severance pay. I took very good care of their mom and they know that. Do I have the right to ask them for my compensation. Any advice?
I think you are out of luck, but please check with an employment attorney.
Your message here serves as a warning to families hiring help without an agency. Agencies gobble up so much more money, but hiring without one, and without obeying labor laws, can run one into trouble with the law. A kind of Catch-22 in caregiving.
I myself would choose to move on. You apparently had a job of 10 years that you were satisfied with. You did not lose it to anything but the fates. No one intended so far as I can see to harm you. You will have to make your own decisions for your best interests and I wish you the best.
Annual leave is negotiated in your contract. If you didn't have a contract, then you are not entitled to any pay besides what you agreed to and accepted for 10 years..
Letting this go for 10 years is actually proof that you knew you didn't get annual leave pay. Being a nice Guy and not dealing with this early on leaves you with zero recourse.
The law looks at what happened and how long it went on to determine if you were in agreement with the pay. I say, yes, you obviously were in agreement or you would not have continued to caregive for 10 years.
Caregivers need to realize that this isn't there forever home and when their client dies they will be expected to leave the premises.
I am sorry for you that you didn't see this coming. Chalk it up to education and know better on your next caregiving assignment.
If you harass this family, they won't be giving you a good reference. How much is that worth to you?
Caregivers are in short supply. Go forward with your life and career. You won't have any problem finding a good position.
and loss of your client. Best of luck
As far as severance pay, the same thing applies. I worked for the Disney Company, for crying out loud, and when several hundred of us were laid off we were told to be grateful we received severance because they weren't required to pay it. (Worst company to work for, by the way.)
You wouldn't get severance pay no matter what -- the job simply ended. It's the nature of the work, I'm afraid.
You should have had a contract with them stating hours you would work. If you get overtime and what time off you would get. Severance pay is not mandated. They were under no law to provide it.
I think its too late to get compensated for no time off. You should have brought it up while you were working for them.