Firm fined for hiring caregivers with criminal records

“Families trust home care organizations to follow the law when they hire employees.” District Attorney Jeff Rosen

A Daly City-based caregiver company was fined by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for illegally placing aides with criminal backgrounds in the homes of elderly and disabled people.

The district attorney’s office and the Home Care Services Branch of the California Department of Social Services investigated the company, Serving Seniors.Care, after one of its aides stole thousands of dollars from an elderly Palo Alto man using the company’s services, the district attorney’s office said on Thursday. The investigation also showed that something similar happened with one of the company’s aides hired by a client in a different county — that aide stole thousands of dollars from the person they were hired to help, the district attorney’s office said.

According to Serving Seniors.Care’s website, its services include companion care, memory loss care and hospice care. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

The company was fined $100,000 in civil penalties for unfair competition and false advertising, according to the district attorney’s office.

The civil complaint accused Serving Seniors Care of forgoing the required clearances for dozens of their caregivers, while advertising that all aides were screened, the district attorney’s office said. Some caregivers had criminal records, though law prohibits people convicted of any crime from serving as home aides, according to the district attorney’s office.

Aides working at licensed home care organizations who get placed in homes are required to be cleared on the Home Care Aide Registry of the California Department of Social Services, the district attorney’s office said. The clearance process includes a criminal background check and fingerprinting.

The Santa Clara County court ordered the company to comply with the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act and keep records related to personnel clearances and placements.

“Families trust home care organizations to follow the law when they hire employees,” District Attorney

Jeff Rosen said in a news release. “Placing strangers into homes without a background check or screening puts elderly and disabled citizens in harm’s way.”

People can verify the status of a caregiver through California’s Home Care Aide Registry by searching the online database using the aide’s full name and personnel ID number, which is also known as a home care aide ID, or HCA ID.