That one number is what the Bolina decision is about. Since July 9, 2026, live-in caregivers in Washington adult family homes must earn at least minimum wage for every hour worked, and overtime after 40 hours in a week. Find your number below. Then go through it with accountants who work with AFHs every day.
AFH caregiver hourly rate calculator
For a caregiver you pay. The starting numbers are from the Bolina court record: $145 a day, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Change them to yours.
The minimum for this home is $17.13 an hour. This daily rate is $8.07 an hour under it, before any overtime.
This is arithmetic, not a legal finding. In the court case the caregivers also got up for residents at night; this example does not count those hours. Which hours count as worked in your home is something we go through with you.
A bigger number than you expected is common, and it is not the end of the home. The consultation is about what you can do next: schedules, a second caregiver, resident rates, and a payroll that pays your caregivers properly and keeps the home open.
Washington's minimum wage law did not cover workers who live where they work. An adult family home could pay a live-in caregiver one flat amount per day, whatever the hours.
In Bolina v. AssureCare Adult Home, the Washington Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that this exception is unconstitutional for live-in caregivers in adult family homes.
Every hour worked must be paid at minimum wage or more. Hours past 40 in a week are paid at one and a half times. The rest of the Minimum Wage Act applies too, including paid sick leave and records of hours.
Source: Washington Supreme Court, Bolina v. AssureCare Adult Home LLC, No. 103519-5, decided July 9, 2026.
Most homes were set up with daily rates because the law allowed it. The law has changed, and now the payroll changes with it.
You do not need to have your papers in order before you talk to us. Most owners who call have never divided the daily rate by the hours. That is where we start, together, with your own numbers. Your caregivers carry the home. Paying them properly and keeping the doors open are one project, not two.
Shift caregivers who go home after work were covered before Bolina. For you this is a check: hours recorded against hours worked, overtime, and the right rate for your city.
Usually a short fix, not a rebuild.
We rebuild a real week first: who is in the home and when. Then we show what hourly payroll would cost, and the ways to make it work.
The most common call we get. You are not alone.
Some on payroll, some not, a caregiver on a 1099. We sort out who is what before any numbers.
One conversation usually clears it up.
The ruling is about caregivers you employ. You are not your own employee. Whether a relative who works in the home is one depends on how the home is set up.
Bring that question to the call.
One video or phone call. We work on your home, with your numbers, on a shared screen. Bring what you know. No documents needed.
Who is in the home, which hours, what you pay them, how many residents and at what rates. We write it down as you talk.
First the hourly figure. Then overtime. Then what a caregiver truly costs with L&I, Paid Family and Medical Leave, WA Cares and unemployment added.
A different schedule. A second caregiver. A change in resident rates. For each one you see what happens to cash, to the home's break-even, and to your own hours on the floor.
You leave knowing your numbers and your first steps. If you go ahead with us, those first steps become a 30, 60 and 90 day plan, and we run the payroll.
The court noted that the homes in the Bolina case kept no records of meal breaks, rest breaks or sick leave. Washington requires employers to keep records like these, and you cannot run hourly payroll without a record of hours.
Every pay period calculated at the correct rate for your city, with overtime after 40 hours. Paystubs your caregivers can read.
IRS deposits and Forms 941 and 940, Employment Security, L&I, Paid Family and Medical Leave, WA Cares, W-2s at year end.
We register the state and federal payroll accounts, enroll caregivers, and run the first payrolls with you until it is routine.
Caregiver cost per resident, labor against your Medicaid and private rates, and an early note when weekly hours start to climb.
Payroll for an adult family home is a flat $100 a month. No charge per employee, so adding a second caregiver to share the hours does not raise your bill.
Book my free consultationUpdated September 18, 2026. We change this section when the courts, L&I or Olympia move.
A summary of public sources, not legal advice.
Leave your name and number and we will call you to set a time. Or call us on (253) 544-5121.
CarebearBooks provides accounting, payroll and financial decision support. We are not a law firm and nothing on this page is legal advice. Wage figures shown are 2026 rates and the calculator gives estimates only. Minimum wage rates usually change on January 1, and some cities also change mid-year.
Nothing on paper. If you know who works which days, roughly what hours, what you pay them and what your residents pay, that is enough to start.
That is what the first call is for. We look at how your home runs today, what hourly payroll would cost, and which schedule the home can carry. Then we help you get it running.
Usually not. Call us, and if your situation needs a lawyer we will tell you on the call.
The consultation is free. Payroll is a flat $100 a month per home, with no charge per employee.
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