Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she’s not otherwise a live in nanny, I’d give her a bonus. It’s a LOT to ask to live with your boss for a month. A lot. I’d probably do at least a week’s pay.

Will her healthcare insurance extend to the location? If not, who will pay the travel insurance.

It’s likely this will have tax implications. Will you cover the excess taxes and tax prep?

Will she have access to or need a car?

She's not otherwise a live-in nanny. A week's pay as bonus is doable for us if we budget this far in advance--thanks, that's a good guideline to think about.

That's a great point about health insurance--I will look into that. If there's a coverage issue with insurance, we'd expect to cover that.

Why would this have any tax implications? I'm on the same trip for a US-based employer and it doesn't change anything for my taxes...

No car. We won't have a car either; we're visiting a capital city with great public transport infrastructure.

Buy her travel insurance that includes medical evacuation. You should also have this for your spouse and kids.

Also: https://blog.helperchoice.com/how-to-take-your-helper-on-holiday/

France
You can apply for a French visa for your domestic helper via the official visa website for France. The employer has to initiate the application up to three months before you’re set to travel. An application form needs to be filled out and sent to the local labour department and only after receiving a stamped and signed form, can the domestic helper apply for her visa. The process will take around one month, but may be longer in the months prior to the summer holiday so make sure your domestic helper secures a time slot early.

See e.g. https://www.gherson.com/blog/i-want-to-bring-my-nanny-to-the-uk-with-me-is-that-possible/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are laws that answer this question for you. A nanny is a non-exempt employee. Ask your lawyer how you are supposed to pay for this trip under the relevant federal and state wage and hour laws.

OP here--thanks, I'm not a lawyer, but I did look up regulations around compensating overnight travel. By law we have to pay her for any time worked, and "worked" includes travel to the job (like her flights) if they're during work hours. Which of course we'd do anyway. We don't have to pay her for hours she's off duty, like weekends, or between the hours of 5pm and 9am. cf 29 C.F.R. § 785.16 (“Periods during which an employee is completely relieved from duty and which are long enough to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purposes are not hours worked.”).

So...legally speaking we will be paying more than required, since she'll have additional PTO. This isn't really a question about the law, which we're of course following; this is a question about convention and etiquette around whether paying nannies a bonus for travel is standard, unlike for other employees in other kinds of business trips.

Your company probably has to get the requisite visa for you to work locally for a month in a foreign country, and local employment law may apply.

Same goes for your nanny. What will she say when the border & customs officer asks her what the purpose of her travel is?

Anonymous wrote:If she’s not otherwise a live in nanny, I’d give her a bonus. It’s a LOT to ask to live with your boss for a month. A lot. I’d probably do at least a week’s pay.

Will her healthcare insurance extend to the location? If not, who will pay the travel insurance.

It’s likely this will have tax implications. Will you cover the excess taxes and tax prep?

Will she have access to or need a car?

She's not otherwise a live-in nanny. A week's pay as bonus is doable for us if we budget this far in advance--thanks, that's a good guideline to think about.

That's a great point about health insurance--I will look into that. If there's a coverage issue with insurance, we'd expect to cover that.

Why would this have any tax implications? I'm on the same trip for a US-based employer and it doesn't change anything for my taxes...

No car. We won't have a car either; we're visiting a capital city with great public transport infrastructure.

Anonymous wrote:There are laws that answer this question for you. A nanny is a non-exempt employee. Ask your lawyer how you are supposed to pay for this trip under the relevant federal and state wage and hour laws.

OP here--thanks, I'm not a lawyer, but I did look up regulations around compensating overnight travel. By law we have to pay her for any time worked, and "worked" includes travel to the job (like her flights) if they're during work hours. Which of course we'd do anyway. We don't have to pay her for hours she's off duty, like weekends, or between the hours of 5pm and 9am. cf 29 C.F.R. § 785.16 (“Periods during which an employee is completely relieved from duty and which are long enough to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purposes are not hours worked.”).

So...legally speaking we will be paying more than required, since she'll have additional PTO. This isn't really a question about the law, which we're of course following; this is a question about convention and etiquette around whether paying nannies a bonus for travel is standard, unlike for other employees in other kinds of business trips.

Agree with PP—a private room in a rented house really isn’t equivalent to what your employer would typically provide OP.

Honestly just in practical terms I think it matters where you’re going and her personal circumstances. A free month in Paris for a 22 yr old? It’s probably the trip of a lifetime and you don’t need to worry about fringe benefits. Taking a 55 yr old to Frankfurt? That’s more her going the extra mile (thousands of miles) for you without much personal benefit.

If she’s not otherwise a live in nanny, I’d give her a bonus. It’s a LOT to ask to live with your boss for a month. A lot. I’d probably do at least a week’s pay.

Will her healthcare insurance extend to the location? If not, who will pay the travel insurance.

It’s likely this will have tax implications. Will you cover the excess taxes and tax prep?

Will she have access to or need a car?

Anonymous wrote:If she’s single and like in her 20s this would be an awesome experience. If she’s older and married she might say no fyi… it’s one thing thinking travel means a week long trip to the beach versus a different country for an entire month.,,

She's older but not married, kids are grown. When we interviewed her, we asked if she was open to traveling with our family on longer trips, and let her know that this one in particular (this city, and for about a month in the spring or summer) was a possibility, and she said that'd be fine. But we didn't have specific dates or details at the time, and we didn't discuss travel-specific compensation.

If she’s single and like in her 20s this would be an awesome experience. If she’s older and married she might say no fyi… it’s one thing thinking travel means a week long trip to the beach versus a different country for an entire month.,,

We pay for all meals, all snacks, and all groceries. Why would you have your nanny buy groceries?

Anonymous wrote:There are laws that answer this question for you. A nanny is a non-exempt employee. Ask your lawyer how you are supposed to pay for this trip under the relevant federal and state wage and hour laws.

If you are in the local country for a month and paying your employee for that time, this poses some tax- and employment law-related legal challenges.

Does the new nanny know that she will be expected to be away for an entire month? That’s a lot to ask.

We pay for all meals plus one snack a day when the nanny travels with us - not just the meals while she's working. It's great that you'll be in a house and she can just buy groceries.

We pay for a day off after the day they return too - that doesn't count as a vacation day. That way they can sleep, do laundry, deal with mail, get groceries, do errands, whatever - just a little break.

There are laws that answer this question for you. A nanny is a non-exempt employee. Ask your lawyer how you are supposed to pay for this trip under the relevant federal and state wage and hour laws.

Hi all, we have a new nanny starting next week. Awkward timing but I'm also booking a monthlong work trip for the spring, to a major European city, which my family will be tagging along for. (When we interviewed our nanny months ago she said she was OK traveling with us, but we didn't have the dates or details yet, so I want to run them by her to confirm she can still come.)

In terms of compensation--For my own business trips, my employer generally covers my airfare/transportation, accommodation, any meals related to my work (eg. lunch meetings).

I'm thinking of this as essentially a business trip for her, so we'd cover her travel, a private room in the house we're renting, any meals while she's working, any expenses for anything she takes the kids to, like a museum. She'll be paid her normal full-time salary but she'll have some extra PTO (not counted against her "official" PTO), since I plan to take Fridays off and be with the kids.

Do people normally also offer some kind of travel bonus? My company doesn't give me a "bonus" for work trips, but I want to be fair if that's a standard thing for nannies. Note also that at home my 3 y/o is in preK for most of the day while nanny's with the baby, but when we travel she'll be caring for both kids all day.

I want to offer clear and fair compensation, especially since she is just starting and may not feel super comfortable with us yet. We like her and want her to feel valued and respected--we've just never traveled abroad with a nanny before and need to know what's fair!