105.115 Notice to home care consumers and workers.

835 words·~4 min read·/wi/chapter-105/105-115-4

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(1)Definitions. In this section:

(a)“Companionship services” means services that provide fellowship and protection for a person who, because of advanced age or physical or mental infirmity, cannot care for his or her own needs.

(b)“Home care consumer” means a person who receives home care services in his or her temporary or permanent residence from a home care worker.

(c)“Home care placement agency” means a person that is engaged in placing home care workers in the temporary or permanent residences of home care consumers for the purpose of providing home care services to those home care consumers, including an employment agent engaged in the business specified in s. 105.01

(1)(intro.) or a person specified in s. 105.01

(f)whose fees or charges are paid entirely by a home care consumer.

(d)“Home care services” means skilled or unskilled care provided to a person in his or her temporary or permanent residence for the purpose of enabling the person to remain safely and comfortably in that residence. “Home care services” include companionship services, homemaker services, nursing services, and personal care services.

(e)“Home care worker” means a person who provides home care services to a home care consumer in the temporary or permanent residence of the home care consumer.

(f)“Homemaker services” means household work, including preparing meals, laundering clothes, making beds, cleaning, performing errands and shopping, completing other miscellaneous chores, and performing any other activities that support the smooth and safe functioning of a home care consumer’s residence.

(g)“Nursing services” means nursing procedures, other than personal care services, that are permitted to be performed by a registered nurse under s. 441.001

(2)or by a licensed practical nurse under s. 441.001

(3).

(h)“Personal care services” means assistance with the activities of daily living, such as eating, dressing, bathing, personal hygiene, and ambulation, but does not include nursing services.

(2)Notice to home care consumers. Whenever a home care placement agency places a home care worker in the temporary or permanent residence of a home care consumer, the home care placement agency shall provide the home care consumer with a notice of the duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of the home care consumer with respect to the home care worker, except that a home care placement agency is not required to provide that notice when placing a home care worker who is temporarily substituting for the regular home care worker of a home care consumer. The notice shall be on a form prescribed by the department and shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:

(a)A statement specifying the duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of the home care placement agency with respect to the home care consumer and the home care worker and the duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of the home care consumer with respect to the home care worker. The statement shall clearly specify the home care consumer’s responsibility, if any, for all of the following:

1. Day-to-day supervision of the home care worker.

2. Assigning duties to the home care worker.

3. Hiring, firing, and discipline of the home care worker.

4. Providing equipment or materials for use by the home care worker.

5. Performing a background investigation of the home care worker.

6. Ensuring that the home care worker has any credential, as defined in s. 440.01

(a), or any other license, registration, certification, permit, or approval that is required for the home care worker to provide adequate home care services for the home care consumer.

(b)A statement of the employment status of the home care worker, specifically, whether the home care worker is an employee of the home care placement agency or of the home care consumer or is an independent contractor and a statement identifying which party is responsible for paying the wages or salary of the home care worker, paying federal social security taxes and state and federal unemployment contributions or taxes with respect to the home care worker, and procuring worker’s compensation or liability insurance covering injury to the home care worker.

(c)A statement that, notwithstanding the employment status of the home care worker specified in the notice, the home care consumer may be determined to be the employer of the home care worker for purposes of certain state and federal labor laws and that, if that is the case, the home care consumer may be held responsible for paying the wages or salary of the home care worker, paying federal social security taxes and state and federal unemployment contributions or taxes with respect to the home care worker, procuring worker’s compensation or liability insurance covering injury to the home care worker, and complying with various other state and federal labor laws.

(cm)A list, by county, of the telephone numbers provided under s. 46.90

(c)that a person may call to report suspected cases of abuse, material abuse, neglect, or self-neglect under the elder abuse reporting system.