Is it common for MB's and DB's to fudge the time they need up front?

[Anonymous]

I have had this happen with two child care jobs recently. I ended up quitting them both because the parents were not up front with me about how much of a time commitment they need from me. I understand being flexible, but these families were not willing to pay for the flexibility at all. I took the lower pay because it was marketed to me as a job where I would be the one with the flexibility I needed and could bring my infant daughter. Then as things got underway, all of a sudden, I am being asked to work days I was told I would not be needed for no extra pay, asked to come in half hour earlier to an hour earlier than I was told I would be needed for no extra pay, and them coming home just however late they thought they could get away with it and then expect me to stick around talk about the day after they've come home so late. Is is so hard to be up front about the time needed?

[Anonymous]

You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

[Anonymous]

We have never done this with a nanny, however, we do ask in the interview if the nanny is willing to do occasional evening and weekend care. We always pay for any extra time worked. Your employers are taking advantage of you.

[Anonymous]

I've definitely needed more time than I thought I would, but absolutely pay for all of it. You can't just ... not pay someone for time they work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me and I quite. Now I'm up front anything over x amount I will be paid x amount for. It's sad so many families take advantage.

[Anonymous]

If you don't stand up for yourself, you become a doormat and no one respects you.

[Anonymous]

This is a very rare situation and you should absolutely be paid for all your hours.

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

Healthy boundaries are a good thing, FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

That's what personal days are for.

[Anonymous]

I'm an MB and it is not ok to expect flexibility where it hasn't been explicitly discussed and certainly not ok (or legal) to not pay you for hours worked.

That said, I have personally experienced hiring someone thinking we needed one thing and then all of a sudden, our needs change drastically (job/school change, kids wake up/nap schedule, etc) or, not so drastically (traffic increases on my commute, find that I can't get out the door when I thought I could). So, pay issues aside, it would be lovely of a Nanny to recognize that there might be some subtle or drastic changes to the schedule the MB needs at any time. If you can't accommodate that, then certainly that's your prerogative (and again, you should always be paid appropriately), but I wouldn't assume they're being purposefully misleading or unfair unless you have additional signs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

That's what personal days are for.

I'm expected to go without pay because their LO had an appointment a few hours before my end time? Or they had out of town visitors arrive on a Friday afternoon? You're telling me you would take a personal day to go get a teeth cleaning? Should I be docked pay because they came home 30 minutes early one evening?

My position was treated as salary. So whether I was there 44 hours or 48 hours I made the same. (47 were my expected hours per week) I'm not saying it's ok for employers to regularly take advantage of your time, but asking if you can stay a few minutes late every few weeks is not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

That's what personal days are for.

I'm expected to go without pay because their LO had an appointment a few hours before my end time? Or they had out of town visitors arrive on a Friday afternoon? You're telling me you would take a personal day to go get a teeth cleaning? Should I be docked pay because they came home 30 minutes early one evening?

My position was treated as salary. So whether I was there 44 hours or 48 hours I made the same. (47 were my expected hours per week) I'm not saying it's ok for employers to regularly take advantage of your time, but asking if you can stay a few minutes late every few weeks is not a big deal.

No you aren't understanding. If a family doesn't use all your hours, that is guaranteed hours and a whole other topic. However, yes, you should use personal time for a teeth cleaning. And your post did not indicate "a few minutes late every few weeks". An extra 30-45 minutes is not a few minutes, and depending on how often it happens, it adds up VERY quickly. If the arrangement worked for you, that's fine, but don't judge nannies who aren't okay with 30-45 minutes of unpaid time, especially those of us professional enough to know we need to use personal time for appointments. Smh. We're ridiculous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to spell it out in your contract. My previous employers would occasionally need me to stay an extra 30-45 minutes, which I didn't mind or require pay for. If staying an extra couple hours, I was always paid hourly.

An extra 30 to 45 minutes of not getting paid is not ok. You should be payed to the nearest half hour, I guarantee your employers know how to divide your hourly rate in half.

For the days I had a doctors appointment and came in an hour late, or ocassionally had an afternoon off, there is nothing wrong with staying 30 minutes extra here and there. Some of you nannies are ridiculous.

That's what personal days are for.

I'm expected to go without pay because their LO had an appointment a few hours before my end time? Or they had out of town visitors arrive on a Friday afternoon? You're telling me you would take a personal day to go get a teeth cleaning? Should I be docked pay because they came home 30 minutes early one evening?

My position was treated as salary. So whether I was there 44 hours or 48 hours I made the same. (47 were my expected hours per week) I'm not saying it's ok for employers to regularly take advantage of your time, but asking if you can stay a few minutes late every few weeks is not a big deal.

This is the approach I have always taken and it works out great. I, the nanny, usually come out on the plus side, getting paid a bit more than I am used for most weeks and then having it even out when I stay late one night another week. Not sure why there is so much resistance here (I get it is not %10000 by the books legal) to anything that is a bit outside of the norm. I thought part of having/being a nanny was having a more flexible work arrangement...oh well.