Rights and Responsibilities

Everyone has rights and responsibilities. As an employer you have certain responsibilities in working with a personal assistant (PA) as well as certain rights. Similarly, PAs have both rights and responsibilities in working with you. Both you and PA should understand each other's rights and responsibilities.

This page also includes guidelines for others to follow to support your independent living.

This page covers

Employer's rights and responsibilities
PA rights and responsibilities
Guidelines for Others that Support Your Independence

Employer rights and responsibilities

AS AN EMPLOYER, you have the right to

select, train, and supervise your PA.
decide which tasks you need assistance to complete.
direct how work is done in your home.
be treated with dignity and respect.
receive confidentiality from your PA.
have security for your home, personal possessions, food, medications, and financial assets.
fire and replace PAs who don't respect your rights.

You have the responsibility to

let the PAs you interview know that you are the employer for purposes of directing the work to be done.
review carefully information from any background checks that you do. This includes checking the person's driver's license and insurance, if the PA will provide transportation.
hire thoughtfully.
treat your PA with respect.
make sure your PA gets paid on time.
describe clearly all your needs and requirements.
explain clearly and assertively how tasks are to be done.
provide a safe work environment for your PA.
not ask your PA to do unpaid work or do frequent favors.
not ask your PA to do anything illegal.

PA rights and responsibilities

A personal assistant has a right to

receive a clear, well-defined set of expected duties and time schedule.
receive requests for any additional duties or schedule changes with as much advance notice as possible.
receive clear, step-by-step instructions for doing tasks.
be told ways of doing a job that are logical and time and effort efficient.
receive instructions and other communications delivered in a clear, direct, assertive manner.
be provided with equipment and supplies that are adequate for performing assigned duties.
perform duties in a pleasant and sanitary working environment that has an efficient physical layout.
refuse to perform certain proposed duties for sufficient reason and with reasonable advance notice.
receive from you, the employer, the confidentiality, respect, and dignity as a human who has personal thoughts, values, beliefs, relationships, activities and a personal life in addition to providing personal assistance services.

The PA has the responsibility to

be sure that he or she will feel comfortable doing the work that needs to be done.
know his own skills and limitations and to discuss them with you.
be dependable - to arrive on time and ready to go to work.
notify you as soon as possible when she knows that she will be late or unable to work.
give a two-week notice if she will be quitting (unless she is in danger if she continues to work). She may quit for any reason.
turn down any job offer.
provide reliable, safe, high quality services, as directed.
respect the your dignity, privacy, property, religion, and culture.
keep personal information about you and your family confidential.
report suspected abuse of a dependent elderly or disabled person.
respect you by not bringing friends or relatives to work with her, and by not using the your food or other property without permission, and by not demanding extra pay.

"Rights and Responsibilities" was adapted from Home Health Aides: How to Manage the People who Keep You. pp. 29-31 By A.H. DeGraff, Copyright 1998, Saratoga Access Publications, Fort Collins, Colorado. http://www.saratoga-publications.com. Reprinted with permission.

Remember that an agency or organization can be the employer of record of the PA for payroll and tax purposes. But you always have the right to manage, supervise and/or direct how the PA performs the tasks. Some agencies have rules about what a worker can and cannot do. These rules also may differ from state to state.

Guidelines for Others that Support Your Independence

Family, friends, PAs, and other caregivers (senior center or rehab staff, doctors, physical therapists, et al) MUST

Treat you as an adult.
Do duties, errands, or social obligations that they have agreed to do, when they agreed to do them. You have a life and a schedule, too, that must be honored.
Be dependable and on time. Call if they will be late.
Share kindness, consideration and patience.
Respect that you are the employer of the PA. Others should not interfere with directions of the employer.
Develop a good attitude about disability or functional needs. A good attitude includes respecting your rights of being independent, your rights to making personal choices and your right to make mistakes and learn from them; rights to be treated as an adult with interests, desires, wants and needs as any other adult.

Family, friends, PAs and other caregivers (senior center or rehab staff, doctors, and physical therapists, et al) MUST NOT

Be undependable.
Make unreasonable excuses for being late or not calling to say they will be late.
Show unwillingness to do duties, errands, social engagements or other commitments, or put them off when it is not necessary.
Decide they know what is best for you.
Abuse any frail older person or vulnerable adult physically, mentally, sexually or financially.

A PA says:

I really appreciate that John knows how to help me deal with his family. They love him a lot and have his best interests in mind, but they often tell me to do things that I know he would not like. When they say to do something different from what John has told me, I just say that John said something different and that I would check with him. He's made it clear to them on several occasions that he's my boss. After a while the family got the idea that John is the boss.

A senior with a chronic condition says:

The best thing for me about having personal assistance services is that I can stay in my own home. I have someone to help me shop, and with some other things I have trouble doing. And I get to eat what I want, prepared the way I like it, be able to be with and see my friends, and stay in my own neighborhood where I know everyone. Also, my family has a safety net. They don't have to do everything for me (and I get to do things how, when and where I want--not on their schedule, which makes me feel very dependent and almost helpless), and they feel better knowing that someone is with me on a regular basis.

A person with severe disabilities says:

Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! It isn't easy, but it is a lot better than having to live my life on an "institutional schedule" even if it were a community-based group home. As a result I was able to get a part-time job that I really wanted. And it has helped my attitude a lot. My family was really upset that I wanted to live on my own. They still worry and bug me a lot, but they also give me credit for what I've accomplished on my own, sometimes begrudgingly.

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