Nannies eligible for Unemployment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are paying our nanny to stay home right now, out of an abundance of caution. My husband’s question is, can she claim unemployment at this time? What would cause that to go into effect and what should we be considering? We are not going to cut her off financially, but we’ve been paying unemployment taxes for her for four years and are curious.

Anyone a tax/benefit expert? We’re in Northern Virginia and use Nannychex for pay/taxes.

Being laid off means she is not being paid. If you are continuing to pay her, even though she is staying home, then she is not eligible for unemployment. If you stop paying her then she is eligible.

[Anonymous]

Like many who who have been legally paying our nanny while she can't work due to COVID, we are considering furlough so she can collect regular UI plus PUA under the Cares Act until work builds back to to the point where she's no longer UI eligible. Can anyone inform how this is working in the real world in Maryland at this point? It would seem anyone qualifying for UI benefits at all qualifies for the $600 regardless. Is that really happening and how quickly are benefit applications being processed? We want to employ the law but are wary of her needing to wait weeks for benefit payments to come through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like many who who have been legally paying our nanny while she can't work due to COVID, we are considering furlough so she can collect regular UI plus PUA under the Cares Act until work builds back to to the point where she's no longer UI eligible. Can anyone inform how this is working in the real world in Maryland at this point? It would seem anyone qualifying for UI benefits at all qualifies for the $600 regardless. Is that really happening and how quickly are benefit applications being processed? We want to employ the law but are wary of her needing to wait weeks for benefit payments to come through.

Our friend did this and it probably took three weeks for their nanny to get her first unemployment check?

[Anonymous]

Bump. My nanny just applied for unemployment. In reality we offered her to come back and she asked to double her rate, which was not sustainable for us. If I accept the claim and do not dispute that she was discharged, will it cost me money? We used a payroll service, but paid her less than $2000 this year before the disaster started, so I feel that I likely do have grounds to contest. I just don’t have extra right now if it’s not something I am obligated to pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump. My nanny just applied for unemployment. In reality we offered her to come back and she asked to double her rate, which was not sustainable for us. If I accept the claim and do not dispute that she was discharged, will it cost me money? We used a payroll service, but paid her less than $2000 this year before the disaster started, so I feel that I likely do have grounds to contest. I just don’t have extra right now if it’s not something I am obligated to pay for.

It depends. If you paid taxes, paid unemployment insurance, have proof of what you paid before covid (and what the hourly rate was) and written proof of your conversation, denying it shouldn’t cost you anything. If you didn’t keep all of it, it could cause an increase in your unemployment insurance going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. My nanny just applied for unemployment. In reality we offered her to come back and she asked to double her rate, which was not sustainable for us. If I accept the claim and do not dispute that she was discharged, will it cost me money? We used a payroll service, but paid her less than $2000 this year before the disaster started, so I feel that I likely do have grounds to contest. I just don’t have extra right now if it’s not something I am obligated to pay for.

It depends. If you paid taxes, paid unemployment insurance, have proof of what you paid before covid (and what the hourly rate was) and written proof of your conversation, denying it shouldn’t cost you anything. If you didn’t keep all of it, it could cause an increase in your unemployment insurance going forward.

Thank you. We have all that except we didn’t write down the conversation. But if I did not dispute and she did collect unemployment, would that increase our taxes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. My nanny just applied for unemployment. In reality we offered her to come back and she asked to double her rate, which was not sustainable for us. If I accept the claim and do not dispute that she was discharged, will it cost me money? We used a payroll service, but paid her less than $2000 this year before the disaster started, so I feel that I likely do have grounds to contest. I just don’t have extra right now if it’s not something I am obligated to pay for.

It depends. If you paid taxes, paid unemployment insurance, have proof of what you paid before covid (and what the hourly rate was) and written proof of your conversation, denying it shouldn’t cost you anything. If you didn’t keep all of it, it could cause an increase in your unemployment insurance going forward.

Thank you. We have all that except we didn’t write down the conversation. But if I did not dispute and she did collect unemployment, would that increase our taxes?

No, the increase would be just the unemployment insurance for the next nanny.