Who is liable if a privately hired caregiver is injured on the job?

Caregiving is physically demanding work. Transfers from bed to chair, help in and out of the shower, catching a falling elderly parent — those are the moments when a caregiver most often gets hurt. When the caregiver is a household employee, the injury becomes the household’s legal problem.

Workers compensation is the primary exposure. In Michigan, household workers meeting specific hour and pay thresholds must be covered. Without a policy in force, the family can face the caregiver’s medical bills, lost wages, and potentially disability payments — plus statutory penalties for operating uninsured. A separate premises-liability claim (through the homeowners policy) is also possible.

Injury to the person receiving care is the mirror-image exposure. If a caregiver drops a client during a transfer or a medication mistake causes harm, the caregiver’s employer is on the hook. A private caregiver typically carries no professional liability coverage, meaning any damages come out of the family’s or caregiver’s assets.

A licensed agency in Southeast Michigan carries workers compensation on every caregiver and professional liability coverage on the agency itself. Both are baked into the hourly rate. That risk transfer is the single most important structural difference between private hire and agency care, and it becomes visible only after an incident — which is the worst time to discover it is missing.

For the full breakdown, see the cornerstone: Private Hire vs. Agency guide.