Do I still have to pay her?

[Anonymous]

MB here. Yes, pay her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YOU told her not to come, she's just making good use of her time off. YOU SHOULD PAY HER

Yes, obviously. You aren't too bright, OP, for evening asking such a thing.

[Anonymous]

I find this annoying too. Psychologically it's easier for me to justify paying her "to be available" even if I don't need her. But what are you going to do realistically? Tell her that she has to sit in her apartment waiting to be at your beck and call on days you don't need her?
I will say that i expect that if something happens and we need her last minute (mom can't make it out for some reason or there is some unforeseen issue with the kids), then she will cancel her plans to go out of town or plan to use vacation.

[Anonymous]

IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

[Anonymous]

Seriously OP? This person takes care of your children. How cheap do you have to be? Let the poor woman have a few days off without having to worry about lost income too.

[Anonymous]

Pay her! She's not on call.

[Anonymous]

If you try to force her into taking those days as vacation, then you've set her up to think that being transparent about her personal plans gets punished. You offered her those days off, paid, so she made plans - if you hadn't made it an extended weekend, she wouldn't have. It's weird to punish her for using the bonus days you gave off.

If I were in your nanny's shoes, I'd never mention my personal plans to you again, and I'd keep really firm boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you try to force her into taking those days as vacation, then you've set her up to think that being transparent about her personal plans gets punished. You offered her those days off, paid, so she made plans - if you hadn't made it an extended weekend, she wouldn't have. It's weird to punish her for using the bonus days you gave off.

If I were in your nanny's shoes, I'd never mention my personal plans to you again, and I'd keep really firm boundaries.

This. I'd just stop talking to you about everything. And I'd probably keep my eye out for a better position with someone who doesn't treat me like a commodity. You don't need her, so what the hell does it matter what she's doing? I'm sure you're one of those parents who try to advertise that the extra days off are a benefit (to justify a low rate), then begrudge her the days when the time comes.

[Anonymous]

Wow, disappointing to read - I would be unhappy to hear that my employer looks at things so closely and basically does not have my best interest at heart, that she would begrudge me a few days off because I happened to mention my plans fr a long weekend. Then I would stop coming into work early or leaving late or doing the little extra's around the house and definitely would keep my ears and eyes out for another position.

[Anonymous]

YES, you have to pay her.

But you don't want to. You gave her the day off but expect her to be on call? She is either off or not. What she does with her free time is up to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

This. This is what it says in our contract, under "guaranteed hours:" "Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have cancelled that time. The family has never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen. In this case, the nanny’s choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

For a nanny who had been with us for a year or more, I might even bend this policy some and still give her the days even if we had to cancel our vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

This. This is what it says in our contract, under "guaranteed hours:" "Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have cancelled that time. The family has never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen. In this case, the nanny’s choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

For a nanny who had been with us for a year or more, I might even bend this policy some and still give her the days even if we had to cancel our vacation.

I'm an MB and I strongly disagree. If I tell our nanny that we don't need her on next Thursday and Friday I assume she'll enjoy those bonus days and do something fun. If my plans fall through and I'm now left w/ no coverage that sucks. I will ask the nanny if she is still available for any portion of that time. But if she is not I would not penalize her or hold it against her. It's my problem to deal with, not hers. I would treat her the same way I would want to be treated.

[Anonymous]

^^^^^

This. But of course, it's too reasonable for many people on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

This. This is what it says in our contract, under "guaranteed hours:" "Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have cancelled that time. The family has never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen. In this case, the nanny’s choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

For a nanny who had been with us for a year or more, I might even bend this policy some and still give her the days even if we had to cancel our vacation.

I'm an MB and I strongly disagree. If I tell our nanny that we don't need her on next Thursday and Friday I assume she'll enjoy those bonus days and do something fun. If my plans fall through and I'm now left w/ no coverage that sucks. I will ask the nanny if she is still available for any portion of that time. But if she is not I would not penalize her or hold it against her. It's my problem to deal with, not hers. I would treat her the same way I would want to be treated.

This is why I tell my nanny only a day or two beforehand for a long weekend off once things are set since if I have to get into work and my plans fell thru I would need coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

This. This is what it says in our contract, under "guaranteed hours:" "Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have cancelled that time. The family has never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen. In this case, the nanny’s choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

For a nanny who had been with us for a year or more, I might even bend this policy some and still give her the days even if we had to cancel our vacation.

I'm an MB and I strongly disagree. If I tell our nanny that we don't need her on next Thursday and Friday I assume she'll enjoy those bonus days and do something fun. If my plans fall through and I'm now left w/ no coverage that sucks. I will ask the nanny if she is still available for any portion of that time. But if she is not I would not penalize her or hold it against her. It's my problem to deal with, not hers. I would treat her the same way I would want to be treated.

I'm the person with the above wording in the contract. Of course it would suck, and that is why I point out that it has never happened. However, if the nanny wants a guaranteed time to make expensive, non-refundable vacation plans, that's what her PTO is for. All of her 12 days of PTO is for her to schedule (we don't do an "our week"/"her week"), and like I said, for a long-term nanny, I might bend the policy. However, the point of guaranteed hours is that she's available to work. I could see your point if it happened every time I said we wouldn't need her, but I see it more as a courtesy to tell her in advance that we'll be away so she can make some plans, but it's not a huge perk like vacation.