Nanny Pay- Vacation Days

[Anonymous]

Hello! My nanny contract has 10 paid vacation days- 5 of our choosing and 5 of her choosing. I receive 20 vacation days through my work so plan on easily using all of these days. As we are approaching July and I have taken our 5 days, our nanny has not taken any days of her own, so I asked if she had any vacations planned so we can plan around them. She doesn't and said she was fine to work around our schedule. But, now she thinks I want her to pick days, and is thinking of taking a week in August to spend time with her family. This is fine, but my question is, when I use my companies remaining vacation days for the rest the year, will these be paid days to my nanny? So, is she really getting 20+ paid vacation days, or do I not pay her for any vacation days over 10? My assumption going into this is that she would be guaranteed her set pay each week, like I have with my full-time job. I am relatively new to this, so thank you in advance for your advice.

[Anonymous]

She should get paid whether she works or not. That's the whole point of guaranteed pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She should get paid whether she works or not. That's the whole point of guaranteed pay.

Correct.

[Anonymous]

If you have negotiated guaranteed pay, she can rightfully expect the same pay every week whether you have her work or not. That being said, her contract stipulates 10 vacation days and that is all that you have to give her. For your remaining vacation, you can have her come in and work as usual or you can generously give her the day off, its up to you. But I'll be honest with, no nanny enjoys coming to work while her MB lounges around, and while you have earned your vacation I'm sure, many nannies have +10 plus years of experience but still receive the same 2 weeks of vacation each year. We are human, and it is frustrating. I'm not saying you should give your nanny as much vacation as you have, just hoping you'll be sensitive!

[Anonymous]

It's all negotiable and depends on how the contract is written.

If your contract provides the nanny with guaranteed hours or guaranteed weekly pay in x amount, then yes, you pay her whether you need her or not. However, you do have several options. 1) You can require that she make up some or all the hours that she won't work while you are away. 2) You can require that she come in and do other types of work while you are off, such as housekeeping, taking in the mail, watering plants, pet care, etc. 3) You can also have her travel with you (you pay all travel expenses) and work an altered schedule so she covers some days and some nights while you and DH get out for evening play. 4) You can specify in the contract that she gets 4-5 weeks paid vacation and then lower the hourly rate that you would otherwise pay to recapture the cost of all that PTO. Basically, you take her weekly pay, multiply by 52, divide that number back out over the number of days she will actually work.

If she already works for you, it is too late to adjust her rate, so you'll need to talk to her about one or a combination of the other options and then, if you aren't happy with what she is willing to do, change things up at the end of the trial period or first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's all negotiable and depends on how the contract is written.

If your contract provides the nanny with guaranteed hours or guaranteed weekly pay in x amount, then yes, you pay her whether you need her or not. However, you do have several options. 1) You can require that she make up some or all the hours that she won't work while you are away. 2) You can require that she come in and do other types of work while you are off, such as housekeeping, taking in the mail, watering plants, pet care, etc. 3) You can also have her travel with you (you pay all travel expenses) and work an altered schedule so she covers some days and some nights while you and DH get out for evening play. 4) You can specify in the contract that she gets 4-5 weeks paid vacation and then lower the hourly rate that you would otherwise pay to recapture the cost of all that PTO. Basically, you take her weekly pay, multiply by 52, divide that number back out over the number of days she will actually work.

If she already works for you, it is too late to adjust her rate, so you'll need to talk to her about one or a combination of the other options and then, if you aren't happy with what she is willing to do, change things up at the end of the trial period or first year.

You must be a MB. A contract is a contract and you cannot have the nanny do other tasks unrelated to child care or have her make up the hours if you have agreed upon guaranteed pay. No nanny I know lets families "bank" hours to use at their convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all negotiable and depends on how the contract is written.

If your contract provides the nanny with guaranteed hours or guaranteed weekly pay in x amount, then yes, you pay her whether you need her or not. However, you do have several options. 1) You can require that she make up some or all the hours that she won't work while you are away. 2) You can require that she come in and do other types of work while you are off, such as housekeeping, taking in the mail, watering plants, pet care, etc. 3) You can also have her travel with you (you pay all travel expenses) and work an altered schedule so she covers some days and some nights while you and DH get out for evening play. 4) You can specify in the contract that she gets 4-5 weeks paid vacation and then lower the hourly rate that you would otherwise pay to recapture the cost of all that PTO. Basically, you take her weekly pay, multiply by 52, divide that number back out over the number of days she will actually work.

If she already works for you, it is too late to adjust her rate, so you'll need to talk to her about one or a combination of the other options and then, if you aren't happy with what she is willing to do, change things up at the end of the trial period or first year.

You must be a MB. A contract is a contract and you cannot have the nanny do other tasks unrelated to child care or have her make up the hours if you have agreed upon guaranteed pay. No nanny I know lets families "bank" hours to use at their convenience.

Guaranteed pay is just that--pay. It is not a guarantee that the nanny won't be asked to do anything but childcare to get that pay. Now, it is possible that other language in the contract precludes banking of hours or alternative duties, but if the contract is silent on that, it's fair game for negotation at this time. Clearly there was no mutual agreement on this issue.

[Anonymous]

I would take personal days and use them for home projects, the spa, shopping, long runs. Anything really. 20 days off - use 10 for travel, and then 10 for time for yourself at home. Or, have the nanny work for one of your vacation weeks and pay her extra so you and DH can travel solo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's all negotiable and depends on how the contract is written.

If your contract provides the nanny with guaranteed hours or guaranteed weekly pay in x amount, then yes, you pay her whether you need her or not. However, you do have several options. 1) You can require that she make up some or all the hours that she won't work while you are away. 2) You can require that she come in and do other types of work while you are off, such as housekeeping, taking in the mail, watering plants, pet care, etc. 3) You can also have her travel with you (you pay all travel expenses) and work an altered schedule so she covers some days and some nights while you and DH get out for evening play. 4) You can specify in the contract that she gets 4-5 weeks paid vacation and then lower the hourly rate that you would otherwise pay to recapture the cost of all that PTO. Basically, you take her weekly pay, multiply by 52, divide that number back out over the number of days she will actually work.

If she already works for you, it is too late to adjust her rate, so you'll need to talk to her about one or a combination of the other options and then, if you aren't happy with what she is willing to do, change things up at the end of the trial period or first year.

You must be a MB. A contract is a contract and you cannot have the nanny do other tasks unrelated to child care or have her make up the hours if you have agreed upon guaranteed pay. No nanny I know lets families "bank" hours to use at their convenience.

Guaranteed pay is just that--pay. It is not a guarantee that the nanny won't be asked to do anything but childcare to get that pay. Now, it is possible that other language in the contract precludes banking of hours or alternative duties, but if the contract is silent on that, it's fair game for negotation at this time. Clearly there was no mutual agreement on this issue.

All of my contracts have specified guaranteed hours, as well as laid out my standard hours, and my job duties. There will be none of this "im going on vacation, so you'll work saturdays for a month and clean my house" BS. Nannies do not allow yourself to be taken advantage of! Some of these MBs are shady as they come. "Oh yeah I guarantee your pay but you'll have to be my personal slave in return. You'll make up hours at my whim and perform whatever tasks please me!" Puh-lease!!

[Anonymous]

Exactly my point PP.

[Anonymous]

You take those days while the nanny carries out her regular schedule. You do not, as previously suggested, mess with your nanny's hours and job duties. She is your nanny, not your housekeeper/pet sitter/ whatever else you decide to dump in her lap.

There must be days you can take or things you need to do on a day off while nanny is with the kids. Christmas shopping.. whatever. Maybe on those days you could let the nanny go home early without docking her pay.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure that your contract states guaranteed pay from your post, but if you rely of her to be there during said time every week, then she should be guaranteed pay for those times. I made the mistake of not "negotiating" this once, as it had always been a given and I hadn't had a contract up to that point. Then I had a family that did not want to pay me for their vacation after dedicating over a year to their family. I immediately started looking for a new position. You should treat her the way you would like to be treated, and give her bonuses and time off based on her performance. You can utilize some of your vacation time as personal time to take care of anything you choose and you can use some as family vacation. I would not attempt to dock her pay and I would not have her come in when completely unnecessary. You could ask her to watch the kids for an entire weekend so you and your husband can go on a mini vacation/stay-cation and offer her additional vacation time as compensation.

[Anonymous]

OP keep in mind that you may want to keep a few days on hand in case your kids are really sick. sick enough that you or they want mommy to be the one caring for them.

[Anonymous]

MB here, and I do not recommend that you have your nanny clean the house or whatever else while you are gone. You pay for a nanny, and can't turn her into a personal assistant just because you get more vacation time than you give. What you CAN (reasonably, in my opinion) do is ask her to travel with you so you get vacation time w/o kids, or pay extra to have her watch kids for week. That makes sense, understanding that it will cost a bit more, of course.

Personally, we get 20 days and our nanny gets 10, but I use the other 10 for an occasional long weekend (we give the nanny off on those Fridays or Mondays and we pay her), or to cover days when child is too sick for nanny (rare, but nanny still paid), and to cover my nanny's 3 paid sick days. If you do take 4 weeks of vacation and don't split the, up or take her with you, you should pay her for those days you don't need her. Perhaps try to negotiate something else next time if it bothers you, but making up hours and pet sitting is a very cheap and demeaning approach and I wouldn't go there if you love the nanny and have a good relationship with her.

It would also be fair, as someone suggested to negotiate hourly rate down based on above average amount of vacation time, but it can't just be 4 weeks you choose, or you may not get any takers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MB here, and I do not recommend that you have your nanny clean the house or whatever else while you are gone. You pay for a nanny, and can't turn her into a personal assistant just because you get more vacation time than you give. What you CAN (reasonably, in my opinion) do is ask her to travel with you so you get vacation time w/o kids, or pay extra to have her watch kids for week. That makes sense, understanding that it will cost a bit more, of course.

Personally, we get 20 days and our nanny gets 10, but I use the other 10 for an occasional long weekend (we give the nanny off on those Fridays or Mondays and we pay her), or to cover days when child is too sick for nanny (rare, but nanny still paid), and to cover my nanny's 3 paid sick days. If you do take 4 weeks of vacation and don't split the, up or take her with you, you should pay her for those days you don't need her. Perhaps try to negotiate something else next time if it bothers you, but making up hours and pet sitting is a very cheap and demeaning approach and I wouldn't go there if you love the nanny and have a good relationship with her.

It would also be fair, as someone suggested to negotiate hourly rate down based on above average amount of vacation time, but it can't just be 4 weeks you choose, or you may not get any takers.

Your nanny is lucky to have you MB.