Hours before independent work

Definition

California requires half a caregiver's 40 training hours done before working alone with residents.

Why It Matters

California splits forty hours in half. Twenty must be done before a caregiver works independently with residents, six of them on dementia care and four on postural supports and hospice, with the other twenty inside four weeks. Florida gates two hours before any resident contact and six more before an aide helps with medication, and puts its weight on the administrator, who has ninety days to complete core training. This is the hardest hiring constraint in the care trades, because turnover buys twenty hours of paid non-productive time per head, and the cost lands in overtime and agency cover, where nobody reads it as training.