When can my nanny take her Vacation?

[Anonymous]

Everybody deserve a vacation,what you talking about?!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here- I think after 6 months she's accrued 1 week. If you want to be mean you can tell her to take only one week. Then the other week after another 6 months. Or she can take the extra week unpaid, then another week paid in 6 months.

This may be "fair" in a way, but you can't just pull an accrual system out the ass if you never had one to begin with, which it doesn't sound as if OP had one in place. You live and you learn.

I disagree. It is entirely standard for vacation to accrue over time; the nanny should have expected as much. If she gets two weeks a year, that works out to about .83 days per month. So, if she worked the entire month of April, she will have accrued 7.5 days by the end of December. You could offer to advance her pay for all ten days, but let her know that if she leaves the job before her anniversary date, you'll deduct the cost of the advanced vacation days from her final check.

If it was not agreed upon, no, she should not have expected it. If guaranteed hours are never discussed, should families just expect it? If parental laundry is never discussed, should families expect it? That's BS and you know it. If OP never specified an accrual system, most nannies would rightfully assume that they can use their vacation at any time. I've only had 1 nanny job of many that had an accrual system.

+1!

"You should have expected it" is not an adequate substitute for clarifying the terms of your employment/duties/benefits in the contract. If it doesn't say it accrues, nanny is eligible for both weeks. And six months is a very respectful amount of time to wait before taking them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here- I think after 6 months she's accrued 1 week. If you want to be mean you can tell her to take only one week. Then the other week after another 6 months. Or she can take the extra week unpaid, then another week paid in 6 months.

This may be "fair" in a way, but you can't just pull an accrual system out the ass if you never had one to begin with, which it doesn't sound as if OP had one in place. You live and you learn.

I disagree. It is entirely standard for vacation to accrue over time; the nanny should have expected as much. If she gets two weeks a year, that works out to about .83 days per month. So, if she worked the entire month of April, she will have accrued 7.5 days by the end of December. You could offer to advance her pay for all ten days, but let her know that if she leaves the job before her anniversary date, you'll deduct the cost of the advanced vacation days from her final check.

+1. This is absolutely the standard.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here- You nannies are crazy!! Of course vacation is acrued, it makes NO SENSE to let a nanny take vacation she hasn't earned. So what if she takes her 2 weeks then quits after 8 months on the job. How is that fair? Sometimes I think some of you are too dumb to be working with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here- I think after 6 months she's accrued 1 week. If you want to be mean you can tell her to take only one week. Then the other week after another 6 months. Or she can take the extra week unpaid, then another week paid in 6 months.



This may be "fair" in a way, but you can't just pull an accrual system out the ass if you never had one to begin with, which it doesn't sound as if OP had one in place. You live and you learn.



I disagree. It is entirely standard for vacation to accrue over time; the nanny should have expected as much. If she gets two weeks a year, that works out to about .83 days per month. So, if she worked the entire month of April, she will have accrued 7.5 days by the end of December. You could offer to advance her pay for all ten days, but let her know that if she leaves the job before her anniversary date, you'll deduct the cost of the advanced vacation days from her final check.



+1. This is absolutely the standard.

+2. I've never heard of anything other than the standard of accruing vacation over time. It's ridiculous to think you automatically get 2 weeks vacations 6 months into a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here- I think after 6 months she's accrued 1 week. If you want to be mean you can tell her to take only one week. Then the other week after another 6 months. Or she can take the extra week unpaid, then another week paid in 6 months.



This may be "fair" in a way, but you can't just pull an accrual system out the ass if you never had one to begin with, which it doesn't sound as if OP had one in place. You live and you learn.



I disagree. It is entirely standard for vacation to accrue over time; the nanny should have expected as much. If she gets two weeks a year, that works out to about .83 days per month. So, if she worked the entire month of April, she will have accrued 7.5 days by the end of December. You could offer to advance her pay for all ten days, but let her know that if she leaves the job before her anniversary date, you'll deduct the cost of the advanced vacation days from her final check.



+1. This is absolutely the standard.

+2. I've never heard of anything other than the standard of accruing vacation over time. It's ridiculous to think you automatically get 2 weeks vacations 6 months into a job.

Ha. Remember this thread next time the argument comes up about standard nanny benefits and practices, and you want to argue that there is no "standard", everything is up for negotiation, and all that matters is your agreement. Whether you think its standard or not, if OP doesn't have anything in the contract about accrual, there is nothing to stop the nanny from using her full vacation. Also an FYI, if you're located in MD, vacation is considered compensation by law, meaning your nanny is entitled to her vacation whether she quits, is fired, or whatever, UNLESS you specify otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I have only ever accrued my vacation and PTO over the course of the first six months - I've had all of it available at the 6 month mark.

But EITHER way the PP is right - standard or not, the only thing that matters is what OP put in her contract. Period! Live and learn and change it next year if you're not happy with it. I once agreed to make up hours vs. holding out for guaranteed hours - it was my mistake and I just had to live with it. So does OP.

[Anonymous]

If nannies expect to take their vacations in the first six months, they should negotiate that perk in their contracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If nannies expect to take their vacations in the first six months, they should negotiate that perk in their contracts.

If employers expect nannies to wait a certain amount of time to take their vacations, they should include it in their contracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If nannies expect to take their vacations in the first six months, they should negotiate that perk in their contracts.

If employers expect nannies to wait a certain amount of time to take their vacations, they should include it in their contracts.

Exactly! Why is the burden of clarification on the nanny? Don't employers usually draft the contract? If the contract is ambiguous, its purely your own fault.

[Anonymous]

There is a big difference between vacation accruing over time and guaranteed hours. Vacation accrual rules are the norm across all sectors of the US economy. Guaranteed hours may be common in the nanny trade, but it is a rare perk in every other sector of the economy. Therefore, it would not apply by default to a nanny employment arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between vacation accruing over time and guaranteed hours. Vacation accrual rules are the norm across all sectors of the US economy. Guaranteed hours may be common in the nanny trade, but it is a rare perk in every other sector of the economy. Therefore, it would not apply by default to a nanny employment arrangement.

You seem to not know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between vacation accruing over time and guaranteed hours. Vacation accrual rules are the norm across all sectors of the US economy. Guaranteed hours may be common in the nanny trade, but it is a rare perk in every other sector of the economy. Therefore, it would not apply by default to a nanny employment arrangement.

Really? There are "norms" for PTO for hourly workers? Should other norms of corporate employment apply to nannies as well? Someone tell me when my scheduled break is! Where's my health insurance/retirement plan? Why do my employers want to know about my sex life and reproductive plans? Can I just walk out the second I'm off the clock, even when you're 20 minutes late. Get out of here with that lame BS. If you want a certain setup with vacation accrual (which aren't uniform and must be DEFINED) put it in the contract. Simple. OP goofed, and its no ones fault but her own.

[Anonymous]

Well said, 7:37.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well said, 7:37.

+1

Very well said.