Nanny wants to use sick leave as vacation days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What??!! This post is crazy to me! A sick day can be a mental health day as far as I am concerned! It is none of my business what my nanny is doing on her time off! I have offered her 5 sick day and 2 weeks vacation. she generally takes her vacation in week chunks so if she needs a single day off for any reason, she usually takes a sick day. I don't understand why it would be the MBs business....

It is the MBs business because in most workplaces, sick days are like an insurance program rather than vacation. They are there to provide pay stability in the event of serious illness, but the expectation is that for most people in most years, a high percentage of available sick days will go unused.

In most work places your available time off isn't use it or lose it until it builds up to a certain point. When I negotiated my contract I made sure that my unused sick and vacation rolls over each year and is paid out when I leave. My reasoning is that its compensation and it shouldn't just disappear each year if I'm healthy.

[Anonymous]

Fine to roll over if that works for the MB and I agree the government does it that way. I think that is less common in the private sector and I cannot do that at my job so I certainly cannot let me nanny accrue a big bank of PTO that could outstrip what I can cover. That is also partly because my budget is for the Nanny's salary - not for her salary plus fi-in help so I cover her PTO by me or DH taking time off.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would suggest sticking to your guns and rewriting your contract. If you want to go to all PTO (for this individual) you can explain that you're making that change because that's how she wants to be able to use her time. You could also consider reducing the total number of days since the assumption is that she'll use every one regardless, instead of perhaps not actually being sick for a full week.

But I handle ours like you do (2 weeks vacation, 1 week sick, no rollover or payout). This mirrors what I've always had in my career and seems to work well for our nanny.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I have 15 days PTO in my contract. This is how I always request my PTO and it has always worked in the past. I also have roll over of my days up to 3 years. Therefore I can technically same up to 45 days PTO to use at once if need be in the future....

[Anonymous]

I frankly do not care how my nanny uses her PTO. It is compensation I offer her and I would expect her to use it. I wouldn't offer it if I didn't expect it to be used.

[Anonymous]

So how does it work if you get 15 days PTO with no provision for paid sick days? Illness happens suddenly, vacations are planned. If she uses all her PTO for vacation and is then ill, presumably this time is unpaid. She may therefore decide to haul herself into work, and potentially give whatever she's got to my kids (I know, she may have already given it to them anyway) and/or more importantly provide sub-par care while ill. I would much rather her feel she has some paid sick days to fall back on so that she can take the time to get better and come back to work when she is ready and able to do her job properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does it work if you get 15 days PTO with no provision for paid sick days? Illness happens suddenly, vacations are planned. If she uses all her PTO for vacation and is then ill, presumably this time is unpaid. She may therefore decide to haul herself into work, and potentially give whatever she's got to my kids (I know, she may have already given it to them anyway) and/or more importantly provide sub-par care while ill. I would much rather her feel she has some paid sick days to fall back on so that she can take the time to get better and come back to work when she is ready and able to do her job properly.

I posted a similar thought above, but this is expressed much better. This is what sick days are for - so you stay home when you are sick. I agree that if she's got it all saved up for vacation or has actually used all her PTO and she gets sick, then all of a sudden you've got a very sick nanny trying to come in because she doesn't want to take a day unpaid. That is the whole point of sick days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I frankly do not care how my nanny uses her PTO. It is compensation I offer her and I would expect her to use it. I wouldn't offer it if I didn't expect it to be used.

+1
TMI if the nanny is taking off a day for a stomach ache or to recover from job stress.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- thanks for the replies everyone. Clearly there are a lot of opinions out there. My problem is that when I did the contract, I wasn't really thinking that 2 weeks of vacation for the nanny plus 2 weeks of vacation for me plus 5 sick days equals five weeks out of work. I don't have that much time off, so I have to pay for back-up childcare and I didn't really budget for that either.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have one of nanny's weeks of vacation be the same week we take vacation. That would give me some breathing room and then I probably wouldn't care so much about whether the sick days get used.

But I very strongly disagree with the thought that sick days are to be used, regardless of whether you are sick or not. That never even crossed my mind when I wrote the contract. I assumed everyone felt the same way I did (i.e. "I really hope I don't have to use any sick leave this year")

[Anonymous]

So interesting how everyone has a different feeling about getting/being sick. For instance, I happen to never get sick. So if a potential employer wanted to offer me sick days as a "perk", I would not be interested. Sort of like health insurance if I already have it with my spouse. Sure, your tree might fall on my head, but not likely.

So your offer of a "perk" that I don't use, is not much of a perk at all. What's the point of that?

[Anonymous]

In all my private sector jobs, sick days were never accumulated nor rolled over. Sick days are there for when you get sick, not to use as a planned vacation allowance. For those who say let's just make it all PTO and no sick days, the problem with this is when your nanny uses all her PTO and THEN gets sick. What is she going to do? Ask for more paid time off? Expect sick time coverage? Sickness doesn't occur with advance notice, that's why employers provide sick time allowance for the times when you are - actually - sick.

[Anonymous]

+1 to 12:57. For that matter I actually normally lose some of my vacation days at work since I hold onto them in case one of my kids gets sick and I need to take off. Happily when they do not get sick I am then left with extra time but normally cannot take it all at year end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all my private sector jobs, sick days were never accumulated nor rolled over. Sick days are there for when you get sick, not to use as a planned vacation allowance. For those who say let's just make it all PTO and no sick days, the problem with this is when your nanny uses all her PTO and THEN gets sick. What is she going to do? Ask for more paid time off? Expect sick time coverage? Sickness doesn't occur with advance notice, that's why employers provide sick time allowance for the times when you are - actually - sick.

So is it a "perk", or not??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 to 12:57. For that matter I actually normally lose some of my vacation days at work since I hold onto them in case one of my kids gets sick and I need to take off. Happily when they do not get sick I am then left with extra time but normally cannot take it all at year end.

Well it seems like your paid time off compensation isn't great, but its probably offset by your salary or other benefits. I would hazard a guess that your nanny receives a fraction of what you do in salary, benefits, and time off. Can you blame her for wanting to be sure uses the little she does get, considering most nannies spend their days alone with preverbal children? Even the biggest kid lover in the world needs adult interaction and time to mentally recharge. Nannies work LONG days, at least an hour or 2 longer than the people who employ them, have no coworkers, and many are told when to take half of their vacation which may or may not allow her to vacation with other adults/family. When it comes down to it, most nannies have 5 vacation days of their own scheduling, and their sick time. Do you realistically expect that she use one of those precious vacation days for a needed mental health day, instead of the sick days (also compensation) that she will otherwise lose? I'm just trying to explain the other side of things here. Those days matter far more than you realize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all my private sector jobs, sick days were never accumulated nor rolled over. Sick days are there for when you get sick, not to use as a planned vacation allowance. For those who say let's just make it all PTO and no sick days, the problem with this is when your nanny uses all her PTO and THEN gets sick. What is she going to do? Ask for more paid time off? Expect sick time coverage? Sickness doesn't occur with advance notice, that's why employers provide sick time allowance for the times when you are - actually - sick.

So is it a "perk", or not??

Yeah I don't get it. "We offer you this compensation, but don't you dare use it! And at the end of the year I won't compensate you for it."