Nanny Pay- Vacation Days

[Anonymous]

Agree PP

[Anonymous]

OP guaranteed hours are a great benefit as many nannies don't budget or save enough to get through a week or two without their paycheck. I fully agree that guaranteed hours are a benefit not an entitlement which the nanny should negotiate up front. I also think its fair for employers who are planning on taking lots of time when they will not need the nanny and don't plan to pay her to be upfront about this so she can budget for the unpaid time.

One thing to watch out for would be your nanny trying to game the guaranteed hours. Some nannies are terrible about this and will intentionally wait as long as possible to schedule their time off to make sure they didn't lose out on an opportunity to get an extra week or two of PTO if you wanted to go away during those weeks anyway. If she knows that you need to take another 10 days off in the next few months, she may be gaming that her request doesn't line up with time you would take anyway. Make sure that your nanny is not carrying an assumption that she can just keep rolling over unused vacation and then suddenly announce that she is planning on taking off a month to travel to her home country.

You should let her know that she needs to schedule and commit to her week now or lose the time off. There also is nothing wrong with having her work on days that you have off in excess of her negotiated vacation. Its reasonable for nannies to negotiate for guaranteed hours but they do themselves a big disservice expecting this means extra time off whenever a parent if off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP guaranteed hours are a great benefit as many nannies don't budget or save enough to get through a week or two without their paycheck. I fully agree that guaranteed hours are a benefit not an entitlement which the nanny should negotiate up front. I also think its fair for employers who are planning on taking lots of time when they will not need the nanny and don't plan to pay her to be upfront about this so she can budget for the unpaid time.

One thing to watch out for would be your nanny trying to game the guaranteed hours. Some nannies are terrible about this and will intentionally wait as long as possible to schedule their time off to make sure they didn't lose out on an opportunity to get an extra week or two of PTO if you wanted to go away during those weeks anyway. If she knows that you need to take another 10 days off in the next few months, she may be gaming that her request doesn't line up with time you would take anyway. Make sure that your nanny is not carrying an assumption that she can just keep rolling over unused vacation and then suddenly announce that she is planning on taking off a month to travel to her home country.

You should let her know that she needs to schedule and commit to her week now or lose the time off. There also is nothing wrong with having her work on days that you have off in excess of her negotiated vacation. Its reasonable for nannies to negotiate for guaranteed hours but they do themselves a big disservice expecting this means extra time off whenever a parent if off.

If you were my employer and told me that you were taking away my vacation time, I would tell you to go f**k yourself as I walked out the door.

[Anonymous]

If you don't use your vacation you lose it. Even companies that allow roll over have threshold limits on how much time an employee can back. You sound like one of those nannies who games using guaranteed pay for a windfall. You really ruin it for other nannies by abusing it because guaranteed pay is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't use your vacation you lose it. Even companies that allow roll over have threshold limits on how much time an employee can back. You sound like one of those nannies who games using guaranteed pay for a windfall. You really ruin it for other nannies by abusing it because guaranteed pay is important.

You're making a pretty big (if false) ASSumption MB.
I have guaranteed pay written into my contract.
My MB is paying me to be available to her. If she decides to take vacation time and still requires me to work, I work without complaint.
MOST nannies are completely reasonable people and are not the "entitled" people that you claim we are.
Who are you to say that this nanny is trying to "get one over" on her employers?

Nowhere in this post has the OP said that her nanny's vacation time rolls over.
You created that on your own. You're an ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't use your vacation you lose it. Even companies that allow roll over have threshold limits on how much time an employee can back. You sound like one of those nannies who games using guaranteed pay for a windfall. You really ruin it for other nannies by abusing it because guaranteed pay is important.

This is NOT a true statement. It states in my contact that 2 of my three weeks vacation time (the two weeks that are my choice) can be rolled over into the next year for up to 3 years. This means if I didn't use my vacation for this year or next, I would take a 6 week trip to tour Europe if I so chose. I work this into my contracts intentionally since I enjoy traveling. I have spent a month in Kenya and a month in Peru over the last 7 years, both times using paid vacation days for the whole 4 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello! My nanny contract has 10 paid vacation days- 5 of our choosing and 5 of her choosing. I receive 20 vacation days through my work so plan on easily using all of these days. As we are approaching July and I have taken our 5 days, our nanny has not taken any days of her own, so I asked if she had any vacations planned so we can plan around them. She doesn't and said she was fine to work around our schedule. But, now she thinks I want her to pick days, and is thinking of taking a week in August to spend time with her family. This is fine, but my question is, when I use my companies remaining vacation days for the rest the year, will these be paid days to my nanny? So, is she really getting 20+ paid vacation days, or do I not pay her for any vacation days over 10? My assumption going into this is that she would be guaranteed her set pay each week, like I have with my full-time job. I am relatively new to this, so thank you in advance for your advice.

technically, if you gave her 5 days off of her choice and 5 days off of you're, then 5 of your 20 days off would be her vacation time. the other 5 she can take whenever she wants, plus she would either work or be paid to be off on your other 15 days off. This said, she would be working her regular duties, not some random job you create. Yes, guaranteed hours should be guaranteed

[Anonymous]

OP, it is typically expected that you will pay your nanny if you cancel her work that day for any reason (you got the day off or took vacation, for example) - this is far less common for PT nannies, but for nannies at 35+ hours a week it is standard (though not universal).

You can ask her to come to the house, bring in the mail, feed the cats, and to use the time you're away to clean the children's closets, sanitize all the toys, sort outgrown clothes, and anything else she would typically be expected to do for the kids (batch cook and freeze baby food maybe?) but you shouldn't expect her to be a housesitter, dog walker, or housekeeper during those days.

It is an extra expense for you to be paying for her when you don't need her, but think of it just like you'd pay your daycare bill 52 weeks a year, even when you took two week's vacation, and this is how you attract and retain a good nanny - by assuring her that she will be able to work and be paid for her regular hours every week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all negotiable and depends on how the contract is written.

If your contract provides the nanny with guaranteed hours or guaranteed weekly pay in x amount, then yes, you pay her whether you need her or not. However, you do have several options. 1) You can require that she make up some or all the hours that she won't work while you are away. 2) You can require that she come in and do other types of work while you are off, such as housekeeping, taking in the mail, watering plants, pet care, etc. 3) You can also have her travel with you (you pay all travel expenses) and work an altered schedule so she covers some days and some nights while you and DH get out for evening play. 4) You can specify in the contract that she gets 4-5 weeks paid vacation and then lower the hourly rate that you would otherwise pay to recapture the cost of all that PTO. Basically, you take her weekly pay, multiply by 52, divide that number back out over the number of days she will actually work.

If she already works for you, it is too late to adjust her rate, so you'll need to talk to her about one or a combination of the other options and then, if you aren't happy with what she is willing to do, change things up at the end of the trial period or first year.

You must be a MB. A contract is a contract and you cannot have the nanny do other tasks unrelated to child care or have her make up the hours if you have agreed upon guaranteed pay. No nanny I know lets families "bank" hours to use at their convenience.

Guaranteed pay is just that--pay. It is not a guarantee that the nanny won't be asked to do anything but childcare to get that pay. Now, it is possible that other language in the contract precludes banking of hours or alternative duties, but if the contract is silent on that, it's fair game for negotation at this time. Clearly there was no mutual agreement on this issue.

+1

[Anonymous]

OP, although legally nannies are supposed to be hourly employees not salaried however, if your contract states guarentee pay then yes you pay her. During this time you can have her take in your mail, feed your animals (you can even ask if she could walk them daily), organize childrens rooms, and other childcare related tasks during your vacation.

[Anonymous]

My nanny gets a week of her own choosing, major holidays, and then anytime we are off or away for whatever reason (usually vacation but sometimes work conferences that I take the kid to). We pay her regardless. Some years she gets TONS of vacation. This year my dh is using most of his vacation days when I go back to work to help with the new baby (she'll be watching the toddler), so she gets just her week, a week at Christmas, and major holidays. But she gets paid no matter what - she has her own bills that don't decrease just because we are on vacation, and she can't pick up work for a day or so here or there.

[Anonymous]

OP if you take extra vacation days and want to spend the day with hubby or run errands you can have nanny come in. You can also have her doing childcare related tasks during the extra vacation days.

If you go away with family you can have her take in the mail, water the grass, feed pets and do child related tasks like organizing rooms/closests/laundry/etc. Just stick mainly to childcare and not heavy cleaning.

[Anonymous]

PP here - Basically, you can make sure nanny is on-call for those extra vacation days you have.

[Anonymous]

I get more vacation than I give my nanny. I take sone of that time to do stuff around the house or whatever while she does her normal routine with the kids. Why would that ever be a problem?

For her vacation: I need to ask for my vacation 6 weeks ahead so I ask her the same courtesy for planning purposes.