Shutdown and furlough
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Anonymous
| If the govt does in fact shutdown for a period of time, and we get furloughed, what are people planning to do about nanny pay? My husband and I are both Feds and we are financially recovering from my maternity leave. We really could not afford to pay our nanny beyond a couple of days. Not really sure what to do, and praying congress will get their act together before midnight.... |
Anonymous
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Maybe she can afford a 10% cut while she's out of work, maybe not?
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Anonymous
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OP, here's the thing. There's no real common or "right" thing to do. One thing I can say for sure though, you should have talked about this with her already a few weeks ago. Given that you haven't, you need to make a plan and sit down with her ASAP to tell her what is happening.
Any of us can like it or not, but just like Federal employees to the Federal government, nannies are employed by the family. It becomes a very close relationship necessarily, but it is an employer paying for a service. If that employer can no longer afford the service, they terminate the relationship. The nanny is similarly free to leave any time it's not working for her anymore. That's why this is such a balance - obviously as the employer and someone who wants to keep their nanny on long-term, the best thing to do would be to keep paying her what you can as long as you can, making sacrifices elsewhere and keeping her informed the whole time. But sometimes employers are going to lose their jobs, or in this case where both parents are Feds, they will have zero income for as long as this lasts. We are always told to have so many months of savings for emergencies, but what if you don't? Or what if you did, but you just spent it on an emergency (like a maternity leave - Feds don't get maternity leave either, so OP probably exhausted all her leave and then took a month or so with no pay). If the OP already exhausted her savings and has no income coming in to the family at all for a period of a week or more, what is she going to do? It's not personal, and certainly she can assume that her nanny will start looking for a new job. But what is the other option? OP, be up front with your nanny immediately that if shutdown happens, you can only afford to pay her for X days. Have her work for those X days and then if it continues, unfortunately, you'll have to lay her off. She will likely be looking for a new, more stable job after that point, so you should probably be planning for if she doesn't come back. It is what it is. |
Anonymous
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I am sure your nanny will understand that if you and your husband do not get paid, then it will affect her as well.
It would really be out of your hands and due to no fault of your own so she could not hold it against you at all. If she did, then she is just immature and selfish. I am sure she is already aware of the situation and is bracing herself financially as well. Keeping finger's crossed. |
Anonymous
She might not hold it against you, but she has bills to pay just like anyone else. She will immediately, if not already, begin looking for new employment, not sitting around staying loyal to you. |
Anonymous
Find me someone that has said "Just stop paying her. She should be loyal and just wait for you to start getting paid again." PP, this sucks for everyone. We've all said we know that any laid off nannies are going to be looking for other employment. Got it. But OP (and others of us who have two Federal incomes) at some point has no choice. |
Anonymous
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I'm sure any nanny with bosses who work in the government has been paying attention to what has been going on.
But I agree with a past poster. Op you should have discussed this with her before. So both you and her can start to plan. If that plan involves her moving on than so be it. Op would you hire her back if and when things get back to normal if she is still looking. Which she maybe - if the shutdown happens there could be a lot of nannies on the market and jobs available slim. Please sit down and talk to her like any good employer would!! |
Anonymous
| We are of two minds on this one. Only one of us is a Fed, so we will have an income, although it will be halved. And it seems silly to pay for a nanny when one of us will be sitting at home. But I am not just going to cut her off either, as that seems totally wrong too. |
Anonymous
It's all wrong. It's wrong that Feds aren't getting paid. It would be lovely if we could all do the "right" thing, but depending on how long this goes on, people are going to be making some tough choices. |
Anonymous
| When parents parent their own children, it's usually a great thing! |
Anonymous
| Lucky that we all do that then! |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Why have you left it until now to address this OP? You've kind of screwed her out of any chance to find a way to replace the income she's losing. |
Anonymous
| You do get that the OP is getting screwed as well, right? |
Anonymous
| Never mind the poor kid getting screwed by his own parents!! |