Signing the contract

Address of the contractual parties

The parties are the care providers and the people requiring care or their family members, agents, or authorised representatives.
The address of the care provider is his/her valid residential address (including abroad) or business location.

If they have an address in Austria and abroad, it is advisable to include both addresses, so that the care provider can be reached in an emergency even when abroad.

Caregiving contract

Start and duration of caregiving contract: the duration of the caregiving contract can be agreed upon at the parties' discretion. Several work contracts may also be successively concluded.

Contract items:

These include in particular: 

• Household services: for example, preparing meals, running errands, cleaning activities, household chores, ensuring a healthy indoor climate, care of animals and plants, laundry (washing, ironing, mending);
• Assistance with life organization: e.g. organizing daily routine, helping with everyday tasks;
• Social function: e.g. providing company, making conversation, maintaining social contacts, support for various activities;
• Managing the housekeeping book with records of expenses for the person requiring care;
• practical preparation for a change of location for the care recipient; 
• Organization of personal care: this also includes the placement of independent caregivers and any medical or nursing activities transferred by a healthcare professional.
• Establishing guidelines as defined by para. 2 Z 1 GewO:
• Agreement on a replacement is provided in the case of a hindrance and if necessary the name(s) and contact address(es) of the replacement(s).

It is recommended to contractually establish that the care provider may be replaced at any time and in the case of their absence will punctually provide a replacement. It is the nature of independent work that a provider may at any time be replaced by another suitable provider of their choice. Specifically naming a replacement on a contractual basis is therefore not necessary.

The following should be included in the contract:
Date and amount of payment for work, bearing in mind that the care provider is him/herself responsible for all taxes and contributions.
Provisions relating to the termination of contractual relationships, for which it is necessary to ensure that the caregiving contract is dissolved upon the death of the person requiring care and the care provider must pay back wages paid in advance on a pro rata basis, and that the contract can be dissolved by either party with two weeks’ notice from the end of a calendar month.

It is advisable to have a termination clause in the contract in the event of the care recipient moving to a home or other facility on a permanent basis.  There may also be an agreement on whether the independent caregiver should continue to perform certain activities for a time after the change (e.g. cleaning the apartment for transfer to the new tenants).
It is also recommended that termination of the contract be ensured in the event of the death of the independent caregiver.

If there is a provision that the independent caregiver lives with the person requiring care and this is also their business location, it is recommended that this situation be explicitly mentioned in the caregiving contract.