Can I legally ask a nanny candidate if she has children?

[Anonymous]

It’s relevant. Scrambling to find childcare when your nanny can’t work because her school aged child is sick is so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s information I would really like to have in making a decision to hire.

Do potential employers ask you about having children?

Yes. In the past they most certainly have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s information I would really like to have in making a decision to hire.

Why?

Usually because they want someone who can stay late, work more hours, or come in as needed and they don't want the nanny missing days because her own kids are sick or have needs..

Well, we all want a reliable nanny, but being a mother or not being a mother doesn't make one's nanny reliable. My nanny is a mother (children are older) and in 6 years, has never missed a day because her own children are sick, and is typically flexible to work more hours.

I think “children being older” is the key. You need a nanny with older children or secure backup care, like a noneorking mother who lives with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s information I would really like to have in making a decision to hire.

Why?

Usually because they want someone who can stay late, work more hours, or come in as needed and they don't want the nanny missing days because her own kids are sick or have needs..

Well, we all want a reliable nanny, but being a mother or not being a mother doesn't make one's nanny reliable. My nanny is a mother (children are older) and in 6 years, has never missed a day because her own children are sick, and is typically flexible to work more hours.

I think “children being older” is the key. You need a nanny with older children or secure backup care, like a noneorking mother who lives with them.

How would you feel if you didn't get a job because someone decided that you having a child was an impediment to you doing the job, even if you had a SAHP or plenty of backup care? Parenthood is not a flaw in a candidate--it's a characteristic, and one that job candidates manage in different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s information I would really like to have in making a decision to hire.

Do potential employers ask you about having children?

Yes. In the past they most certainly have.

They also asked women if their husbands mind if they traveled. Questions like that are not legal today.

[Anonymous]

A nanny position isn’t like an office job. There is no one to cover for her if she can’t come to work if her child is home sick. Fair or unfair, it is what it is. Not all jobs are right for all stages of a person’s life. Nannies with school aged children should work in daycares or preschools where there is someone to cover continual unexpected absences.

That is the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A nanny position isn’t like an office job. There is no one to cover for her if she can’t come to work if her child is home sick. Fair or unfair, it is what it is. Not all jobs are right for all stages of a person’s life. Nannies with school aged children should work in daycares or preschools where there is someone to cover continual unexpected absences.

That is the truth.

And make a FRACTION of a nanny salary? Seems fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A nanny position isn’t like an office job. There is no one to cover for her if she can’t come to work if her child is home sick. Fair or unfair, it is what it is. Not all jobs are right for all stages of a person’s life. Nannies with school aged children should work in daycares or preschools where there is someone to cover continual unexpected absences.

That is the truth.

Lots of job functions are not office jobs. If pilots and surgeons and daycare workers are not in, it's not easy to get someone to cover for them at the last second, and people are inconvenienced. There are backup options, to be sure, just like any working parent with a nanny keeps track of backup care options etc. Even with daycare, you don't have the unexpected absences, but you can't take your sick kid with a fever there either, so often a nanny leads to better coverage in general and fewer work days missed.

[Anonymous]

You probably don’t have enough employees to be subject to the anti discrimination laws, so yes. Should you? That’s a different question.

[Anonymous]

Op I’ve never had a nanny but know all about my sisters experiences with hers. Ironically, the worst were childless nannies! Always late, “sick”, calling out, lazy with light housework and so on. Her best nanny (who is now a family friend) was mother to a 5 year old and also pregnant at one point. Insanely reliable, probably bc she had a kid and knew what it’s like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A nanny position isn’t like an office job. There is no one to cover for her if she can’t come to work if her child is home sick. Fair or unfair, it is what it is. Not all jobs are right for all stages of a person’s life. Nannies with school aged children should work in daycares or preschools where there is someone to cover continual unexpected absences.

That is the truth.

Yes, actually, a nanny is entitled to exactly the same legal rights you are. You clearly have contempt for women who don’t have office jobs, but your contempt is, fortunately, irrelevant to their employment rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I’ve never had a nanny but know all about my sisters experiences with hers. Ironically, the worst were childless nannies! Always late, “sick”, calling out, lazy with light housework and so on. Her best nanny (who is now a family friend) was mother to a 5 year old and also pregnant at one point. Insanely reliable, probably bc she had a kid and knew what it’s like.

+1. Making employment decisions based upon lifestyle choices and demographic characteristics is called discrimination.

[Anonymous]

Just curious whether people think having a nanny who abandoned her own children (deadbeat mom) is relevant to the hiring decision. We found out after we hired her (wages were garnished for unpaid child support) and fired her for other reasons (insanely unreliable and bad judgment), but I was super uncomfortable with it once I knew she had abandoned a kid. That’s the sort of thing that would never be relevant to another kind of job...but seemed relevant here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious whether people think having a nanny who abandoned her own children (deadbeat mom) is relevant to the hiring decision. We found out after we hired her (wages were garnished for unpaid child support) and fired her for other reasons (insanely unreliable and bad judgment), but I was super uncomfortable with it once I knew she had abandoned a kid. That’s the sort of thing that would never be relevant to another kind of job...but seemed relevant here.

So you didn’t check her references or do a background check til after you hired her? Seems like a error filled hiring process. I would never hire someone who had the characteristics you mention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I’ve never had a nanny but know all about my sisters experiences with hers. Ironically, the worst were childless nannies! Always late, “sick”, calling out, lazy with light housework and so on. Her best nanny (who is now a family friend) was mother to a 5 year old and also pregnant at one point. Insanely reliable, probably bc she had a kid and knew what it’s like.

“Light housework”? We all know what kind of nannies you employ.