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Summer is almost here, and for some high net worth (HNW) families, it is time to hire domestic help—perhaps a full-time sitter for the kids, extra groundskeepers or a chef for your summer entertaining. 

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Unfortunately, a recent survey performed by HireRight indicated that&nbsp;85% of employers caught applicants lying on their job applications.&nbsp;Since an applicant will only provide information he/she wants you to know,&nbsp;you will need more information than this to protect your family.&nbsp;You would not want to accidentally hire a sex-offender as your child’s music teacher or a babysitter with multiple driving infractions to take your children to their activities.

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Before you let a stranger into your home or property,&nbsp;even if you are hiring someone for just a couple of hours a week, you need to make sure that this person has undergone a thorough background check. A hidden issue in a candidate’s background showed up in 77% of background checks requested by the employers in the HireRight study.&nbsp;

If your family office does not provide the service of hiring domestic help, you can use the steps below to help protect your family.

Five Steps to Verifying the Background of Potential Employees

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If you don’t use a security firm, you can use a full-service source such as GoodHire or Care, or perform an online check yourself through vendors like BackgroundReport. (Compare prices and services online.) During the background check you should:

Hopefully, performing background checks will help you really get to know your applicants and lead to a hire that is a good fit for your family.&nbsp;Also, by knowing the rules around background checks, you can help protect yourself from employment liability.

Don’t hesitate to contact your Warner attorney or Dean Pacific in our Labor and Employment practice for assistance with protecting your family during all parts of the process for hiring domestic staff, including conducting interviews, drafting employment or confidentiality documents, and understanding important insurance requirements.

For information on using insurance to protect yourself when hiring domestic help, please see our blog post "<a href="https://www.wnj.com/Blogs/Private-Client-and-Family-Office-Blog/May-2018/A-High-Net-Worth-Guide-to-Hiring-Domestic-Help-Pr">Protect Your Family from Liability.</a>"

For specific information on the employment process in its entirety, including payroll and tax issues, please see our article “<a href="https://www.wnj.com/Publications/A-High-Net-Worth-Guide-to-Hiring-Private-Staff-and">A High Net Worth Guide to Hiring Private Staff and Domestic Help</a>.”

Go to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hireright.com/news/press-release/10th-annual-hireright-benchmark-survey-finds-48-percent-of-employers-do-not" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2017 HireRight survey</a>&nbsp;to learn more about current trends in background checks.&nbsp;

Legacy Matters

Private Client and Family Office

Partner

Dean F. Pacific

Trusts and Estates

Hiring Domestic Help:  Using a 5-Step Background Check to Protect Your High Net Worth Family

The Warner Norcross + Judd LLP lawyer responsible for the contents of our advertising and this website is managing partner <a href="/people/mark-j-wassink/" aria-label="Mark Wassink">Mark Wassink</a> who can be reached at <a href="mailto:mwassink@wnj.com" aria-label="email Mark Wassink">mwassink@wnj.com</a> or 616.752.2189. Please read our full <a href="/privacy-policy/" aria-label="see privacy policy">privacy policy</a> available on our website.

Hiring Domestic Help: Using a 5-Step Background Check to Protect Your High Net Worth Family

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