Help! Super Confused re Nanny Pay

[Anonymous]

It's sounds like you were tacking on extra hours the days she was working but only paying her the minimum. If she had worked all week she would have made more because you used her more hours. She gets paid her base salary and any extra hours are overtime otherwise you are basically making her work extra hours with no pay because you choose to take a vacation day.

[Anonymous]

OP you've made your contract overly complicated and it is understandably difficult for any of you to follow it. My suggestion would be to scrap it and start again. Apologize for making things so complicated and figure out a SIMPLE arrangement that make you both happy.

Set a schedule that will cover your needs. She guarantees that availability for you, you guarantee her weekly pay. Simple. Negotiate a single hourly rate that you are both comfortable with and that is appropriate for the entire scope of the job (perhaps the average of what she is making now) and stop worrying about tracking two kids vs. one. Make things simple. Then, when you or she takes vacation days or holidays, her paycheck remains unchanged. Simple. No one feels shorted or put out, which is the goal.

You can work the numbers however you need to closely represent whatever your end goal was, but you owe your nanny some consistency with her paycheck, her schedule, and for her to not feel financially penalized when she takes time off. You also owe her clarity going forward of what she can expect. I hope you guys are able to work it out, but I honestly would never have agreed to such a ridiculous arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the responses. To clarify: her minimum weekly amount of $880 is based on a 40 hour work week, with 20 of those hours at a 2-child rate. She has only worked for us for 3 weeks, and in those 3 weeks it turns out we are using her more like 50 hours per week.

Last week (the week of September 15th) she worked a total of 36.5 hours (10 hours with 1 baby, 18 hours with the other baby solo, and 8.5 hours of share with both babies). When you multiply those hours by the applicable rate per hour ($19 for solo hours and $25 for share hours), the total comes out to $745 for the week. She had 1 vacation day on that week. We paid her the minimum of $880. But it sounds like the concensus on this board is that we should be paying her $745 + $176 (1/5 of the weekly minimum).

We really didn't think that our contract with her worked that way -- if we give her a guaranteed weekly minimum AND we pay her a daily rate for 10 vacation days, 10 holidays, and 5 sick days, we are talking about an additional $4,400/year. I thought that was the whole point of having a minimum. Anyways, thanks for your help - all of this is so confusing!

If her contracted day is 8 hours, then yes, she needs to be paid 8 hours (averaged hourly rate) for every day you count as a vacation day. For an hourly worker, vacation, or paid time off, is actual hours you are paid for that you didn't work. So, she needs to be paid for an extra 8 hours, above what she worked, every time she uses a vacation day. If she works OT, that has nothing to do with vacation. For an hourly worker, you can't shift hours around and then count the days off as "vacation."

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP.

If she had two days off and worked her regular schedule the other days, you'd pay her the set weekly amount.

If you shifted her hours (not cool) so she worked longer on other days, pay her the full 8 or 10 hours (however long her scheduled day is) on top of the pay she already earned.

Do not count vacation hours toward OT calculations, however. OT only kicks in if she is physically at work over 40 hours.

[nannydebsays]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the responses. To clarify: her minimum weekly amount of $880 is based on a 40 hour work week, with 20 of those hours at a 2-child rate. She has only worked for us for 3 weeks, and in those 3 weeks it turns out we are using her more like 50 hours per week.

Last week (the week of September 15th) she worked a total of 36.5 hours (10 hours with 1 baby, 18 hours with the other baby solo, and 8.5 hours of share with both babies). When you multiply those hours by the applicable rate per hour ($19 for solo hours and $25 for share hours), the total comes out to $745 for the week. She had 1 vacation day on that week. We paid her the minimum of $880. But it sounds like the concensus on this board is that we should be paying her $745 + $176 (1/5 of the weekly minimum).

We really didn't think that our contract with her worked that way -- if we give her a guaranteed weekly minimum AND we pay her a daily rate for 10 vacation days, 10 holidays, and 5 sick days, we are talking about an additional $4,400/year. I thought that was the whole point of having a minimum. Anyways, thanks for your help - all of this is so confusing!

You only owe her extra for hours worked above and beyond 40 per week. BUT when you toss vacation pay in there, it does make it confusing. In the simplest possible terms, you MUST pay her for hours worked outside of her normal schedule, including work done on days she had "vacation", because she's NOT on vacation. The fact that this is a nanny share does make it more complex. If she worked extra for the other family, THEY owe her OT. If she worked extra for you, YOU owe her OT.

In my eyes (and my work agreement), the guaranteed weekly minimum is (example!) $800 for work between 9 am and 5 pm. Work outside of those hours is paid above and beyond my guaranteed hours at my OT rate of $30/hour.

Your nanny had every right to expect to work ONLY 32 hours the week of 9/15, and to be paid for 40 hours. However, she worked 4.5 hours of what I would consider OT. So she needs to be paid her minimum PLUS 4.5 hours of OT pay. If her OT was with both babies, she is due $37.50 x 4.5 IN ADDITION to her $880 weekly minimum. If her OT was with only one baby, she is due $28.50 x 4.5 plus her standard minimum pay of $880.

So, yes, you (and your share partner?) owe her either $128.25, $168.75, or some other amount I can't calculate not knowing all the particulars.

It sounds like you all really need to sit down and figure this out if you find you are needing 10 hours of OT 3 weeks into the work arrangement. Constant questioning of pay numbers by nanny or employers can make everyone want out of a nanny care situation.

[nannydebsays]

Anonymous wrote:We really didn't think that our contract with her worked that way -- if we give her a guaranteed weekly minimum AND we pay her a daily rate for 10 vacation days, 10 holidays, and 5 sick days, we are talking about an additional $4,400/year. I thought that was the whole point of having a minimum. Anyways, thanks for your help - all of this is so confusing!

To clarify: If you don't have her work OT when she is getting "vacation", you won't need to worry about paying her anything additional. OT costs more money. Period.

[Anonymous]

OP, you don't own her anything extra. She worked less than her normal hours and still got paid her minimum. That's so simple. She was off- she got paid. Where is the problem? She gets extra moneywhen she works more than in the contract. Did she work more?no! Problem solved

[Anonymous]

As Nanny Deb pointed out, it is only an issue if you do both - take vacation days and also ask her to work extra hours.

[Anonymous]

NannyDeb is incorrect. The law states that you are only required to pay OT for ACTUAL hours worked. In this situation you do not owe the nanny any OT.

[Anonymous]

NannyDeb is incorrect. The law states that you are only required to pay OT for ACTUAL hours worked. In this situation you do not owe the nanny any OT.

I would pay her regular rate for all hours worked and whatever a normal day would have been for the days she had off.

OP- this really is only an issue if you take your vacation in days instead of an entire week. If she had the whole week off you would owe her $880 and that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NannyDeb is incorrect. The law states that you are only required to pay OT for ACTUAL hours worked. In this situation you do not owe the nanny any OT.

I would pay her regular rate for all hours worked and whatever a normal day would have been for the days she had off.

OP- this really is only an issue if you take your vacation in days instead of an entire week. If she had the whole week off you would owe her $880 and that's it.

The issue is not the law but what was agreed to in the contract. It's unfortunate that OP misunderstood the terms but she did agree to them so she needs to honor her agreement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NannyDeb is incorrect. The law states that you are only required to pay OT for ACTUAL hours worked. In this situation you do not owe the nanny any OT.

I would pay her regular rate for all hours worked and whatever a normal day would have been for the days she had off.

OP- this really is only an issue if you take your vacation in days instead of an entire week. If she had the whole week off you would owe her $880 and that's it.

The issue is not the law but what was agreed to in the contract. It's unfortunate that OP misunderstood the terms but she did agree to them so she needs to honor her agreement.

She still doesn't owe OT. If the nanny worked 36.5 hours, she is owed 36.5 hours of pay at straight time. If she is burning a vacation day, she's owed an additional 8 hours of PTO pay at her straight time rate. (Which is what she's asking for) She's not owed any overtime.

[Anonymous]

The issue here is that you want to charge her vacation days, ask her to work extra hours, and then pay her the minimum. She is understandably not okay with that. What you have effectively done is squeezed out a few free hours and it isn't right.

Say she usually works 50 hours, which you pay her for, but you only guaranteed 40 hours. If she worked a normal schedule the week of the vacation days, she would have worked around 30 hours, and gotten off for 20. The problem is that you only guarantee 40. So she is only getting paid for 10 hours beyond what she worked, but you are charging her for 2 days of vacation. This is not fair. You need to charge her vacation by the hour not the day since your system is so convoluted.

[nannydebsays]

So to the PP's saying I am incorrect:

I can see your point about OT just for hours worked, but would you agree that OP owes nanny money for every hour worked AND her 8 hours of vacation pay? I think OP is trying to avoid paying for every hour worked *and* for vacation hours.

And IMO, the relationship between OP and her nanny is likely already off to a less than stellar start due to the fact that OP hired nanny to work a 40 hour week, and the first weeks of employment have been 50 hour work weeks.

I think that OP needs to sit down with nanny and the share parents and completely rework their contract. I also think that OP needs to take the OT hit on this, and make sure the contract is MUCH clearer to avoid issues in the future.

I don't take a share position unless 1 of 2 possibilities exists for PTO:

1) Families coordinate their vacations (10 days of PTO) so I actually get 2 full weeks off.

2) I choose all 10 days of vacation PTO

To do otherwise means nanny winds up never being fully off work, since one or both families always need her services.

[Anonymous]

Backtrack and give the nanny her 2 days vacation back and pay her minimum of $880 for her guaranteed 40 hours. Since she worked 36hrs anyway (almost her full week), you are not at a big loss and nanny will be able to have her full vacation at a later date. Win win. This should've never been days counted against vacation so early on anyway. It is just way too much nitpicking.