What to do about cut hours

[Anonymous]

I'm a first time part time nanny and I've been working for a family for 9 months now. The parents and kids are great, and I'd love to continue with them. However...I took the job with the understanding that I would work 24 hours a week, but more recently they have sometimes let me off early and told me they don't need me to come in on one or two days, and I was not paid for these days. I know this is my fault for not saying something sooner, and no there is no contract (are those things even legally binding?) but is there ANY WAY possible I can talk to them now about requiring a set amount of hours, or am I just sore out of luck? I will most likely be looking for a new job after the summer, since I really do need stable pay every week. Just wondering what others have done, or what you would think as an MB.

[Anonymous]

As for contracts, I do not really think they are legally binding. I have not seen or heard of any case where someone has sued someone in a court of law and was awarded damages based on supposed "guaranteed" hours. I think these are just tangible documents for both parties to refer to to clear up any job-related confusion, but in the legal sense, they are pretty much fluff.

Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to sit down with your bosses now + discuss your need for more hours. How long ago did they start reducing your hours? If they say their needs have changed over the past few months and that they need less care, I would let them know that while you really enjoy working for them and love caring for their children, financially speaking you really NEED to work at least 24 hours to make it financially. See what they say. Perhaps they just didn't realize on their end how important those extra hours were to you.

Hopefully you all can work this out.
I am quite sure they feel the same way about you as you feel about them and will not want you to go over a few weekly hours.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for contracts, I do not really think they are legally binding. I have not seen or heard of any case where someone has sued someone in a court of law and was awarded damages based on supposed "guaranteed" hours. I think these are just tangible documents for both parties to refer to to clear up any job-related confusion, but in the legal sense, they are pretty much fluff.

Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to sit down with your bosses now + discuss your need for more hours. How long ago did they start reducing your hours? If they say their needs have changed over the past few months and that they need less care, I would let them know that while you really enjoy working for them and love caring for their children, financially speaking you really NEED to work at least 24 hours to make it financially. See what they say. Perhaps they just didn't realize on their end how important those extra hours were to you.

Hopefully you all can work this out.
I am quite sure they feel the same way about you as you feel about them and will not want you to go over a few weekly hours.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Thank you for your reply! That's what I would like to tell them, but don't want to risk making it awkward if they tell me no. It's not every week that it's reduced thankfully, just random times. For instance, this week they won't be needing me for 2 days, and MB is coming home early another day, so I'm only going to be working maybe 13 hours. I guess they probably don't understand this isn't just extra income to me and that I depend on the money. I'll try to bring it up, but I get nervous even thinking about it! (I've done similar things with other non-nanny jobs, but somehow working for a single family seems more personal discussing money) I am hoping they value me enough to want to keep me on !

[Anonymous]

This is the purpose of "guaranteed hours" - it means they guarantee you 24 hours a week and pay you for those whether or not they choose to take a vacation and not use you.

Yes, if you have a contract that the employers (or you) violate, you CAN take them to small claims court and the contract will weigh heavily in the judge's decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the purpose of "guaranteed hours" - it means they guarantee you 24 hours a week and pay you for those whether or not they choose to take a vacation and not use you.

Yes, if you have a contract that the employers (or you) violate, you CAN take them to small claims court and the contract will weigh heavily in the judge's decision.

Yes, I started reading about guaranteed hours after I was hired unfortunately. As I said, this is my first nanny job and I didn't understand fully how it worked. Next time I will definitely tell employers id like guaranteed hours.

[Anonymous]

OP, I know it's hard but I think you should say something. I'm an MB and I give the nanny guaranteed hours but honestly, when I was a FTM (and before I found DCUM) I had no idea that was a thing. If you were my nanny and told me that you depended on that income I would have given you guaranteed hours.

I don't know your employers though and so I don't really know how they will react. If they are kind and fair people I don't think you have anything to lose. You should be prepared though just in case it doesn't go well but it sounds like you are planning to look for a new job soon anyway.

[Anonymous]

This is why you absolutely NEED a work agreement in place. Don't call it a contract as that is not the correct term. I always make sure to have a work agreement in place and 100% make sure that guaranteed hours are in place also. My current contract states that I am guaranteed 45 hours a week for 52 weeks per year even if the family chooses to not use me for any or all of that time.

[Anonymous]

I was in a similar situation in a previous job. MB considered it a perk that they could use me when convenient unlike a daycare where you have to pay a flat rate each week. They also thought I was aware of the danger of fluctuating hours, assuming I too felt it was an advantage for me to have the time off. if you don't have another stream of income then I suppose this has been an important lesson to learn.

I would talk it over because they may have been budget conscious and chosen thus arrangement intentionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a similar situation in a previous job. MB considered it a perk that they could use me when convenient unlike a daycare where you have to pay a flat rate each week. They also thought I was aware of the danger of fluctuating hours, assuming I too felt it was an advantage for me to have the time off. if you don't have another stream of income then I suppose this has been an important lesson to learn.

I would talk it over because they may have been budget conscious and chosen thus arrangement intentionally.

I think you're correct that they've chosen this intentionally. I am aware that most part time employees are not paid when they are not needed, though I have never understood why. However, they seem like reasonable people to me and would understand that people depend on their income. I'll try to talk it over with them, but I don't want to have to quit my job right before summer starts if they say no and things get awkward. Did you do anything about your previous situation or did you just look for another job?

[Anonymous]

You can bring it up with them but no one can guess how they may reply. But i think its an important thing to discuss next time, take it as a lesson learned. The family I work for comes home early all the time and almost at LEAST once a week they text me that they don't need me at all yet they always pay me my full weekly rate. If they didn't pay me I wouldn't be able to cover my bills. Take this week for example, I was planning for the full 5 days this week, but suddenly they want to go to the beach Wednesday. While I enjoy having 3 days off, I need the money too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in a similar situation in a previous job. MB considered it a perk that they could use me when convenient unlike a daycare where you have to pay a flat rate each week. They also thought I was aware of the danger of fluctuating hours, assuming I too felt it was an advantage for me to have the time off. if you don't have another stream of income then I suppose this has been an important lesson to learn.

I would talk it over because they may have been budget conscious and chosen thus arrangement intentionally.

I think you're correct that they've chosen this intentionally. I am aware that most part time employees are not paid when they are not needed, though I have never understood why. However, they seem like reasonable people to me and would understand that people depend on their income. I'll try to talk it over with them, but I don't want to have to quit my job right before summer starts if they say no and things get awkward. Did you do anything about your previous situation or did you just look for another job?

The conversation was awkward as they insisted there was no compromise. In the end I gave them a choice to decide what they needed more: my flexibility or my time. We agreed to a higher hourly rate because they prioritized flexible scheduling. Our relationship was never the same. I knew then that there was no room for growth and eventually I would need to find another job. They seem to have guessed that in the long run I would be looking for opportunities to grow that they could not provide. Or even just future annual raises! I discovered then that they did not plan to give me annual wage increases.