Snow days and PTO

[Anonymous]

Do you take snow days out of PTO for your nanny? Our nanny gets 15 days off a year (combined personal/sick) to use as she pleases. We don't make her take PTO for things like Dr's appts where she comes late etc. My gut says that snow days shouldn't come out of PTO since they don't come out of my PTO at work, but I wanted to confirm that is the standard. Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

There really is no standard. Some people use the federal government closure as a good rule of when a snow day is paid but since the fed closed for rain this year and many non-govt offices opened once the forecast changed, this may not work.

[Anonymous]

Snow days are freebies for me. It's not like I'm choosing to sit at home. Believe me I'd much rather be at work. I'm in the Midwest and recently had a day off due to flooding. It won't count against my PTO. Although I could have gotten out of my town it would have been impossible to get to my employers' house once I got closer to their town b/c most of the streets were under a few feet of water. MB called at 5:50am to tell me to stay home. Gotta love Mother Nature!

[Anonymous]

We follow the "wait and see" approach. If my husband gets off work, we almost always tell her to stay home (I telecommute, and never have the day off, though I can move my hours around if I have to).

Sometimes she's come in a little late, and sometimes I've let her go early, but I don't say "don't come in" until that morning when we know better about what's actually going to happen.

[Anonymous]

If we have a snow day (or any kind of inclement weather day) that makes it unsafe for our nanny to get to work she does not have to use vacation time - it's a freebie. Just like if I get the day off because the federal government closes.

Sometimes she comes to work anyway (if the alleged weather event is a no-show) or sometimes she stays overnight if severe weather is threatened. But if she can't get to work through no fault of her own she isn't penalized.

[Anonymous]

We follow the federal closing schedule and do not take it from her PTO as its doesnt come out of ours. She does however have the option to use a PTO/sick day if the weather is such that the Feds don't close but she's not comfortable driving.

[Anonymous]

If my employers advise me not to come in because of the weather, it is not taken from my PTO - it's a freebie. That said, I do sometimes work even when my employers are off for a snow day, but in a more flexible way (I might come in a few hours later to wait for the snow to stop, or sometimes I walk to their house and they drive me home in the evening). This is something we worked out between us and wouldn't sit well with every nanny, but it works for me/us.