Fair to ask for a few extra hours after being off 2 days?

[Anonymous]

Nanny called on Monday and said she couldnt get to us. No problem.
Nanny called this morning and said she could come but was nervous about getting stuck and not being able to get home. She lives 45+ mins away. We told her to stay home. We plan to pay her for both days.

She usually only works 4 hrs on Friday and if we need her longer, we pay extra for those hours. Is it fair to ask her to stay 2-3 extra hours on Friday but not pay her extra since she was off the past 2 days with pay?

[Anonymous]

Not at this point in time. The correct time to ask was when she called, at which point you could have discussed her being paid but making up the hours later. However at this point she believes she is off with pay, and would be very rude to spring on her (she will either feel obligated to say yes or will tell you she already has other plans and worry you'll be mad). Just put yourself in her shoes and you know the answer to your question. Would you want to work extra hours for free when your boss told you to stay home with pay in inclement weather? No.

[Anonymous]

No because you didn't divulge that information of using make up hours on friday when agreeing to pay nanny for the two bad weather days. She very well may have other plans/another sitting job lined up for when her time with you is already scheduled to be over.

[Anonymous]

What is your agreement? Do you guarantee hours? Do you have a weather policy? If you typically guarantee hours, but don't have a policy regarding weather, I would say it isn't fair to ask her to make up hours after you've already granted the time off. She should have had the choice; come in or make up hours, but its not fair to do after the fact. I think it'd be a reasonable policy to have in place in the future for weather days in which she requests off, but you'd like her to work. There should also be a policy covering days where she clearly should not be expected to work. Don't make her request off in a blizzard.

[Anonymous]

What if she already has plans for this Friday after work?

[Anonymous]

You need to think about this situation more. You have a nanny who lives 45+ minutes away, and who is not willing to get stuck at your house in bad weather. You also have a long winter ahead. Aside from the issue of whether to pay her or not when she doesn't want to come in when she anticipates weather might be bad but everything is open (I say absolutely not on the pay issue), you need to think about whether you can live with the number of absences likely to pile up.

Next time she comes in, you need to talk with her about her travel plans for winter driving. The occasional emergency or snow storm is one thing, but if she's not going to come in because the temperature may drop and the roads get icy sometime during her early morning or late evening drive ... you're going to be out a nanny a lot.

FWIW, this is one reason I only interviewed nannies who lived closer to us this time. Weather-related problems were a big issue with our last nanny who had to take a couple of freeways to get to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to think about this situation more. You have a nanny who lives 45+ minutes away, and who is not willing to get stuck at your house in bad weather. You also have a long winter ahead. Aside from the issue of whether to pay her or not when she doesn't want to come in when she anticipates weather might be bad but everything is open (I say absolutely not on the pay issue), you need to think about whether you can live with the number of absences likely to pile up.

Next time she comes in, you need to talk with her about her travel plans for winter driving. The occasional emergency or snow storm is one thing, but if she's not going to come in because the temperature may drop and the roads get icy sometime during her early morning or late evening drive ... you're going to be out a nanny a lot.

FWIW, this is one reason I only interviewed nannies who lived closer to us this time. Weather-related problems were a big issue with our last nanny who had to take a couple of freeways to get to us.

I'll take snow over an icy road. I'm scared of ice, and have slipped on it twice, in an unsalted clients driveway. Even if the nanny lives two streets away from you, and the roads are sheets of ice, possibly injuring myself isn't an option. One paycheck won't cover my hospital bills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to think about this situation more. You have a nanny who lives 45+ minutes away, and who is not willing to get stuck at your house in bad weather. You also have a long winter ahead. Aside from the issue of whether to pay her or not when she doesn't want to come in when she anticipates weather might be bad but everything is open (I say absolutely not on the pay issue), you need to think about whether you can live with the number of absences likely to pile up.

Next time she comes in, you need to talk with her about her travel plans for winter driving. The occasional emergency or snow storm is one thing, but if she's not going to come in because the temperature may drop and the roads get icy sometime during her early morning or late evening drive ... you're going to be out a nanny a lot.

FWIW, this is one reason I only interviewed nannies who lived closer to us this time. Weather-related problems were a big issue with our last nanny who had to take a couple of freeways to get to us.

I'll take snow over an icy road. I'm scared of ice, and have slipped on it twice, in an unsalted clients driveway. Even if the nanny lives two streets away from you, and the roads are sheets of ice, possibly injuring myself isn't an option. One paycheck won't cover my hospital bills.

So what does that mean? You won't come to work in the winter if it's below freeing and might rain? No one is saying you should come in during an ice storm, but we all have to go to work in the winter.