Praise for Hillary Clinton: Raises Important Concerns About On-Demand Businesses and Professional Caregiving

As the founder and CEO of an elder home care company, I typically avoid talking politics outside my inner circle; Republicans and Democrats are too sharply divided on matters related to healthcare. But when a presidential candidate frontrunner implicitly gives a ringing endorsement to the business I’ve given my heart and soul to these past four years, it’s hard to remain silent. I’m talking about Hillary Clinton, who is the only presidential candidate to express concerns about on-demand companies who classify their workers as contractors to avoid paying Social Security taxes and other costs associated with W-2 employees. Clinton is also the only one so far to express concerns about the pay exploitation of professional caregivers, who perform critical work and yet are often paid less than minimum wage. Clinton’s concerns about the rights of on-demand workers and the pay of professional caregivers may seem unrelated, but in fact they are closely aligned. I take great pride in knowing that, with our atypical business model, CareLinx helped pave the way for caregivers to earn higher wages and receive the benefits entitled to them by domestic employment law. To be candid, however, when I founded CareLinx four years ago, I had no idea I would set in motion such a major disruption of the home care industry. Instead, my motivation to leave my Wall Street job was far more personal. My sister has multiple sclerosis and my uncle, who was my father figure growing up, had ALS. After seeing what my family endured when struggling to find quality care, I decided I had to take action. We had had an extremely difficult time attracting and retaining quality professional caregivers, and I was surprised to discover why: The agencies through which we retained our caregivers charged us about $30 an hour but were often paying the caregivers less than minimum wage, when taking into account overtime exemptions. (Effective lobbying by the home care industry has effectively managed to keep caregivers exempted from overtime laws governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act). For those unfamiliar with us, CareLinx is the leading national online platform that allows professional caregivers to brand and market themselves, after undergoing an extensive background check and screening to families in need of elder care or patients needing care struggling with chronic conditions. The caregivers determine their own hourly rates and accept only the assignments they want; the prevailing wage is typically $15 to $19 an hour, considerably higher than the paltry wages most professional caregivers earn. Worth noting: Caregivers hired through CareLinx keep their entire wages, which is counter to how others in our space operate. Further, we bond and insure all caregivers with a $1 million professional liability policy backed by Lloyds of London for everyone's peace of mind. CareLinx is a boon to families because it allows them to hire professional caregivers at roughly half the cost agencies charge and who are also a far better compatible match. However, our model requires that families who use CareLinx caregivers be designed as the employer of record, which means they must pay all the requisite employment taxes (FICA and SDI). We provide software to make it easy for families to comply with the regulations, and we charge a 15% fee for the service we provide. California’s Employment Development Department has examined our model and ruled that it complies with state and federal employment laws. CareLinx has achieved considerable success, with more than 100,000 caregivers registered across the country and a rapidly accelerating growth rate. Silicon Valley VC firms have taken notice: In recent weeks, several California startups have received $20 million in financing from some rather high-profile venture investors to enter or expand in the home care space. We welcome the significant capital infusion into the sector, as it validates the untapped potential of the elder care market with the possibility to help more families in need. However, like many other Shared or Gig Economy business models such as HomeJoy, and TaskRabbit, these new elder care startups misclassify their caregivers as independent contractors, which clearly violates state and federal domestic employment laws. Domestic employment law is very clearly written. These companies are unnecessarily putting families and caregivers at serious risk and Clinton is right to call them out on it. While we embrace more companies entering into our space, it's imperative that they do so fairly and ethically, complying with domestic employment laws that preserve the financial interests and rights of caregivers. Professional caregiving is stressful enough; these workers shouldn't have to worry or wonder whether they're being taken advantage of. Hillary Clinton isn’t the only political leader to understand how the prevailing business models of on-demand economies can potentially harm workers, particularly professional caregivers. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) has also shown a commitment to improving the lot of professional caregivers. It's noteworthy that it's our women political leaders stepping up to raise these important issues. It's the women of a family, usually the eldest daughter, who most often steps up at home to care for aging parents. Keeping America’s elderly safely and comfortably in their homes shouldn’t be a big political issue, nor should how best to ensure that caregivers earn the wages and benefits due to them. But as long as there are companies looking to exploit those who labor on their behalf, it's heartening to know that there so far is at least one presidential candidate willing to take up their cause. Kudos to you, Hillary Clinton.

CareLinx CEO Sherwin Sheik